A survey of AMWA members completed last month found that 80 percent of respondents distributed their annual consumer confidence reports (CCRs) to customers via the internet in 2016. Responding utilities using electronic delivery also reported an average savings of $44,205 in printing and postage costs this year.
EPA has allowed community water systems to distribute their annual CCRs to customers via the internet, rather than through manual deliveries of paper copies, since 2013. An AMWA survey in 2014 – the second year of permitted electronic CCR delivery – found that 78 percent of AMWA members utilized electronic delivery options, so the association conducted the 2016 survey to explore the degree to which utilities are utilizing this option in the fourth year of EPA’s electronic delivery policy.
Fifty non-wholesaler drinking water utilities responded to AMWA’s 2016 survey. Most reported high satisfaction with electronic CCR delivery both at the utility and among customers in the community, and 95 percent of utilities that used electronic CCR delivery this year plan to continue using this distribution method in the future.
Notable survey findings include:
- Eighty percent of responding utilities delivered their CCRs electronically this year. On average, these utilities reported avoiding printing more than 138,000 paper CCRs and saved $44,205 in printing and postage costs.
- Among utilities using electronic CCR delivery, 72 percent included a note on or with water bills directing customers to an online CCR. Twenty-five percent mailed customers a separate postcard with instructions for accessing an electronic CCR, and the remainder emailed customers a link to an online CCR.
- Utilities reported high customer satisfaction with electronic CCRs. More than half of responding utilities (52 percent) reported that 50 or fewer customers requested delivery of a paper CCR, and only one utility reported having more than 250 customers request paper copies. When a paper CCR was requested, 92 percent of utilities reported sending the document within seven days, and 59 percent were able to send it within one day.
- Nearly 75 percent of utilities that have made the switch to electronic CCR delivery said they did so to minimize paper, printing and postage costs. Thirteen percent said the change to electronic was made in order to provide additional room for information on the CCR, while eight percent said environmental motivations were primary.
AMWA members can access the full survey results online.