A report released last week by EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center catalogues various approaches water and wastewater utilities in the U.S. utilize to reduce the financial burden of water bills to customers in need. AMWA was among the water sector organizations that provided feedback to the agency as the report was developed.
According to the report, Drinking Water and Wastewater Utility Customer Assistance Programs, 29 percent of the 795 water and wastewater utilities surveyed offer at least one type of customer assistance program, such as programs benefiting low-income households, individuals facing temporary hardship, disabled individuals, seniors or members of the military. Bill discount programs were identified as the most common form of assistance, followed by flexible billing terms and temporary assistance programs. The report found that 65 percent of surveyed utilities spend less than $25,000 per year on their customer assistance programs.
The report includes several in-depth case studies of customer assistance programs offered by water and wastewater systems and a quick-find matrix that displays the type of program offered by each utility surveyed for the report.