Beginning September 1, AMWA is launching its second Utility Financial Information (UFI) survey to collect updated financial data from member utilities. The UFI program was designed to aid water executives in maximizing their financial planning and performance by providing timely, relevant industry data to expand their knowledge and understanding of critical financial factors that affect large metropolitan water utilities.
 

Since the survey is open only to AMWA members, the results reflect input from the nation’s largest systems and provide data that can be used for many useful and meaningful comparisons.   When combined with the data from the first UFI survey, analysis of the information will begin to have a historical dimension as well. 

The UFI program is not just a rate survey. Its overall purpose is to increase the level of understanding among AMWA members regarding large metropolitan water agencies’ rates, revenue sources, expense categories, and trends over time in these parameters. The availability of relevant comparative data from peer water utilities will help water managers better understand cost drivers, identify different alternatives for funding these costs, and provide comparative data for presentations that put financial needs into context.
 

While the general analyses of the 2010 UFI data will be made available to all members, only utilities that participate in the 2010 survey will have access to the full database.   This will be a unique and valuable data source for tailored financial planning and benchmarking. The user-friendly Excel format of the database will allow comparisons by criteria including geographic location, population served, water source and many others.

The data will also be useful to AMWA in creating statistical support for legislative and regulatory initiatives where sound, representative utility financial information is required.
 

The 2010 survey is a customized survey tool in Excel format that will be emailed directly to each AMWA member utility on or around September 1, 2010. The 84 utilities that participated in the first survey will receive a survey form that is pre-populated with their earlier responses and allows them to copy the existing information whenever it is unchanged from 2008.

The survey period will run from September 1 through November 24, 2010. General analyses of the data and access to the database will be available in January 2011. In February, AMWA will conduct a webinar on how members can use the database to conduct their own tailored analyses.
 

AMWA launched its first UFI survey on January 12, 2009 to gather the information necessary to help members better understand the financial dynamics of peer utilities across the country, particularly the magnitude and drivers of rate increases.
  

A number of basic analyses (members only) of UFI survey data were conducted on the information collected by March 31, 2009. Eighty-four AMWA members participated in the first survey.
 

The database from AMWA’s first survey is available for download only by AMWA member utilities that completed the survey.  It is available in Excel and Access formats and passcodes are required for access.  Contact Carolyn Peterson if you do not have your passcode.  Download files from this page. Each utility response was scrubbed to remove the utility name and location (except for the state, which was retained to allow geographical sorting of information).  Members are asked not to share this database outside their own organizations.

In addition, a 40-minute webinar on use of the data is available.  The program includes a review of the database in both Excel and Access format and a demonstration of how several key analyses can be executed.
 

Questions about the UFI project should be referred to Carolyn Peterson, peterson@amwa.net or 202-331-2820.