104

THE KANSAS LIFELINE

July 2018

Carl Brown is President of

GettingGreatRates.com, which specializes in

water, sewer and other utility rate analysis. The

firm also serves as the RATES Program rate

analyst for the Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico,

North Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming rural water

associations. Contact: (573) 619-3411;

carl1@gettinggreatrates.com

b. Your system would follow-up in later years with

simple inflationary increases to keep rates adequate

and pretty fair. That’s a nice blend of complex and

simple math and very fair rates initially and pretty fair

rates for years to come. Or, 

2.  Your system can do simple calculations on your own

every year, arriving at rates that are adequate, but with rate

structure fairness as an unknown. The more uniform your

customers are, the fairer will be such rates.

To find the best option for your utility, contact Greg

Duryea at the Kansas Rural Water Association. He will

advise you well. If you go with Option 2, Greg can even

help you with the math.

If you choose Option 1, know that the Association

initiated the Kansas RATES Program to do the difficult

math. Disclosure: I am the analyst for the Program, so I

would do that math. To learn more, visit

http://krwa.net/TECHNICAL-ASSISTANCE/Rate-Reviews

.

Do rate setting right and (most of) your ratepayers 

will be (relatively) happy and your utility will be 

well-funded. That is as close to rate setting nirvana as 

you can get.