Revenue per capita is increasing. Projected rate increases are lower than past annual increases. The increase in median debt per capita took a slight pause in 2014. These are just a few nuggets of information from AMWA’s fourth biannual Utility Financial Information (UFI) survey. The survey results were released in January in a new UFI database that provides in-depth financial information on the 102 utilities that participated in the survey in the fall of 2014.
Since the survey closed in December, AMWA’s survey contractor Raftelis Financial Consultants (RFC) compiled and analyzed the raw data. Several key analyses are provided in this issue of Water Utility Executive, including some analyses that include results from prior surveys conducted in 2008, 2010 and 2012. RFC notes that the trending analyses are not based on the same group of utilities from survey to survey. The intent of these analyses is to indicate potential trends for the industry as a whole, and RFC provides brief editorial comments as part of each analysis.
The selection demonstrates the breadth and depth of analyses possible using the UFI database and represents a wide variety of data for comparison. It is, however, only a small fraction of the analyses possible, and members are encouraged to mine the data for useful statistics and use it to create reports most pertinent to their own operations. Since survey participants include only the nation’s largest water agencies, the data is extremely relevant and valuable for comparison.
In a webinar planned for February 24 at 2:00 p.m. ET, RFC will discuss the survey results and provide examples of productive ways to use the data.
Key analyses of the 2014 UFI survey data are presented with charts, graphs and commentary.