Revisiting the Steps to Effective Utility Management: Part IV
In April 2010, EGP continued a review of “Effective Utility Management: A Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities” by visiting the five steps to assessing your utility’s current performance. Over the next several newsletters, EGP will visit in detail the ten measures to assessing your utility’s current performance which support utilization of the “Keys to Management Success” guide.
1. Product Quality A. Product Quality Regulatory Compliance
- There are national and state regulations related to the quality of water. A few of these include 40 CFR Part 141 (the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations), the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Water Drinking Act.
- Measures:
- Drinking Water Compliance Rate: 100 X (number of days in full compliance for the year / 365 days). A higher percentage indicates better compliance.
- Wastewater Treatment Effectiveness Rate: 100 X (365 – total number of standard noncompliance days / 365 days). A higher percentage indicates better compliance.
- Number, Type, and Frequency of Near Compliance Misses: This measure indicates the number of days where the Utility reached a defined percentage of allowable levels (i.e. 80-95%). This allows the utility to identify areas that may cause compliance issues in the near future if not addressed.
B. Product Quality Service Delivery
- These measures will allow the utility to evaluate the quality of its service based on its established objectives and targets.
- There are a number of measures which can be used. We have highlighted three below.
- Service Interruptions:100 X (number of active account customers experiencing a service interruption of greater than 1 hour / total customers during reporting period. Typically, this is measured monthly and can be tracked in total or by unplanned and planned interruptions. A higher percentage indicates a lower level of quality of service delivery. Similar calculations for sewer could be based on sewer backups or sewer overflows.
- Water Reuse: 100 X (amount of water supplied that is from reused and recycled water / total amount of water supplied). A higher percentage indicates greater reuse of water and increased efficiency.
- Drinking Water Flow and Pressure: 100 X number of customers less than a set flow per minute and less than a set number of pounds per inch / total number of customers. A higher percentage indicates a larger number of customers who are not getting adequate flow and pressure.
2. Customer Satisfaction A. Customer Complaints
- This allows the utility to measure the number of complaints received per 1,000 each period. Generally, these are measured separately for customer service and technical quality; however, they may also be categorized by areas such as billing, responsiveness, odor, appearance, flow, pressure, type of customer, etc. if so desired.
- Measures:
- Customer Service Complaint Rate: 1,000 X (customer service associated complaints / number of active customers). A higher ratio indicates a lower level of customer satisfaction with service.
- Technical Quality Complaint Rate: 1,000 X (technical quality associated complaints / number of active customers). A higher ratio indicates a lower level of customer satisfaction with service.
B. Customer Service Delivery
- Based on its desired objectives, the utility can set desired service levels and track how often it meets these objectives. This helps the utility to determine how satisfied customers are.
- Measures
- Call Responsiveness: 100 X (number of calls responded to within a set number of minutes / total number of calls during the reporting period). A lower percentage indicates faster response time and greater customer satisfaction.
- Error-Driven Billing Adjustment Rate: 100 X (number of error-driven billing adjustments during reporting period / number of bills generated during reporting period). A higher percentage indicates a larger number of errors in the billing process which can result in lower customer satisfaction. This same measure can be used for other types of calls if desired.
C. Customer Satisfaction
- To assess overall customer satisfaction, the utility may choose to distribute surveys to customers. These may be sent to all customers, those who recently received service and/or those who recently called with complaints. In addition, they can cover different topics such as quality, reliability, rates, crew courtesy, and notification of street construction or service interruptions. These surveys can then be logged, organized and analyzed based on the level of satisfaction or the topic area.
In our September 2010 newsletter, we’ll explore additional measurements of performance. As always, EGP PLLC is available for your water and wastewater utility’s financial audit and consulting needs.
Adapted from “Effective Utility Management: A Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities” issued June 2008.
At EGP PLLC, our personnel have a 25 year history of providing professional services to municipal water and sewer departments. We believe that we have more experience with municipal water and sewer departments than any other firm in the state and would like to provide our expertise to your company. Our firm continues to meet all educational requirements to perform governmental audits, including Single Audits under A133.
