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national multiple family submetering and allocation billing program ...

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Table 3.2 Postcard survey response rates<br />

Total<br />

delivered<br />

surveys<br />

Total<br />

completed<br />

surveys<br />

Utility<br />

Sample<br />

Frame<br />

Undeliverables<br />

Response<br />

rate*<br />

San Antonio 844 619 225 382 61.7%<br />

Tucson 1,111 1,028 83 443 43.1%<br />

Phoenix 1,688 1,238 450 548 44.3%<br />

Oakl<strong>and</strong> 1,469 1,233 236 603 48.9%<br />

Denver 1,731 993 738 697 70.2%<br />

Portl<strong>and</strong> 2,643 1,592 1051 1,173 73.7%<br />

Austin 1,923 1,555 368 807 51.9%<br />

Indianapolis 596 393 203 221 56.2%<br />

Irvine na na na na na<br />

Las Vegas 1,400 925 475 489 52.9%<br />

Seattle 2,585 1,462 1,123 1,089 74.5%<br />

Hillsborough County 265 265 0 104 39.2%<br />

San Diego 3,240 2,297 943 1,416 61.6%<br />

TOTAL 19,495 13,600 5,895 7,972 58.6%<br />

*Response rate calculated from delivered surveys <strong>and</strong> completed surveys<br />

Manager Survey<br />

After the postcard survey was completed, a survey instrument was sent to managers of<br />

individual properties requesting detailed information about the property characteristics, property<br />

amenities, water fixtures, <strong>and</strong> water bill payment. The survey included questions about the<br />

building size <strong>and</strong> l<strong>and</strong>scape, rent rates, occupancy rates, building features <strong>and</strong> amenities, changes<br />

to water using fixtures <strong>and</strong> appliances, water bill payment methods, <strong>and</strong> others. The final survey<br />

was five pages long (8.5 x 11 inches, 11-point type), contained 43 multi-part questions <strong>and</strong><br />

typically took 10 to 15 minutes to fill out. In the survey, 15 questions pertained to property<br />

characteristics, 3 to property amenities, 6 to water fixtures, <strong>and</strong> 17 to <strong>billing</strong> methods. The back<br />

page of the questionnaire was devoted to soliciting unit addresses for the resident survey, contact<br />

information, <strong>and</strong> return instructions. As with the postcard survey, a drawing for a cash prize<br />

($500) was included, in hopes of increasing response rates. An example of the manager survey<br />

can be found in Appendix A.<br />

The manager survey was sent to in-rent <strong>and</strong> impact properties identified through the<br />

postcard survey. In addition, impact properties identified by <strong>billing</strong> service companies <strong>and</strong> from<br />

web sources that had not responded to the postcard survey were also included in the manager<br />

40

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