As water rates increase, in many cases
faster than the public's ability to
pay, greater numbers of water utility
customers may experience difficulty
paying their water bills, even for basic levels
of service. Fortunately, there are many ways
that utility managers can address affordability
issues, including assistance programs that
benefit both customers and the water utility.
This paper discusses the experiences of the
City of Portland, Oregon, which for more than
15 years has been involved in helping its
low-income customers pay their bills on time
and avoid shutoffs. The city built on the
findings in prior literature to identify the
many options - for example, low-income bill
discounts, a crisis assistance program, a
fixture repair program, budget billing, and
payment extensions - that are available to
make water service more affordable. Utility
managers have a variety of solutions available,
depending on their particular community's
needs and customer base.
The objective of this paper is to foster
an increased awareness of the issue of affordability,
including both the benefits and
obstacles of providing bill assistance for lowincome
people, and that more utilities may
implement new programs or enhance existing
ones. Considerable long-term efforts may
be required to make such programs effective;
however, as this paper shows, success can be
achieved if these efforts are focused and have
the proper planning and direction.
Includes 6 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. 94 - No. 4 |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 400 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 11 |
| Published : | 04/01/2002 |
