Services
Most of our work is a cost-of-service and rate study. We start with the city’s last study, its audited statements and a billing extract. A typical study takes eight to twelve weeks, at a fee agreed before work begins.
- Water loss recovery snapshot. Find the accounts and zones behind a reported loss figure.
- System valuation and options review. An independent valuation and financial analysis for a board that is considering an offer to buy or sell the system.
- Consolidation feasibility study. Costs, savings and rate effects of combining two systems.
- Stormwater fee review. Review the parcel data, classifications and calculations behind a stormwater charge.
If you run your own studies
For rate consultants and engineering firms that run their own studies, we prepare the recurring analysis those studies need. We have built normalized consumption panels, affordability exhibits and filing extraction. See what we build.
Find a utility by name.
4,950 public water systems, 26,906 filed utility-years and six states, assembled from records published by 24 agencies. Free to search and read.
Missing filings and unavailable fields are marked in the data.
Two exhibits
IllustrativeNames, dates and figures invented.
The week before the study starts
Is this billing extract usable?
Billing extract, first pass
City of Ellery water fund · 8,412 accounts · 24 monthly periods to June 2026
Forty-seven account-periods are flagged. All forty-seven stay in the panel, with a reason recorded for each.
| Class | Meter | Periods | Flagged | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential | 5/8 in | 24 | 0 | |
| Residential | 1 in | 24 | 2 | Meter changed mid-period |
| Commercial | 1 in | 24 | 0 | |
| Commercial | 2 in | 24 | 3 | Consumption implausible |
| Irrigation | 1 in | 18 | 18 | Partial period |
| Industrial | 4 in | 24 | 0 | |
| Code 58 | mixed | 24 | 24 | Class code unmapped |
We flag rather than drop. The panel does not exclude rows; the study team decides what to leave out, and each flag keeps its reason on the row.
Budget season
Can we afford the capital plan?
Financial plan
City of Ellery water fund · FY27 to FY32 · $26M lead service line replacement, drawn FY29
Coverage falls below the 1.20× covenant in FY30 and does not recover. Scenario B keeps it above 1.20× with a 9.5% increase in FY29.
| Year | Net revenue | Debt service | Coverage | Margin over 1.20× |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY27 | $6.02M | $4.18M | 1.44× | +0.24× |
| FY28 | $6.18M | $4.31M | 1.43× | +0.23× |
| FY29 | $6.35M | $5.25M | 1.21× | +0.01× |
| FY30 | $6.41M | $5.94M | 1.08× | −0.12× |
| FY31 | $6.52M | $6.11M | 1.07× | −0.13× |
| FY32 | $6.64M | $6.18M | 1.07× | −0.13× |
Debt service is the existing schedule plus the new loan, level over twenty years. The 1.20× minimum is the bond ordinance, section 5.2.
| Year | Net revenue | Debt service | Coverage | Margin over 1.20× |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY27 | $6.02M | $4.18M | 1.44× | +0.24× |
| FY28 | $6.18M | $4.31M | 1.43× | +0.23× |
| FY29 | $7.02M | $5.25M | 1.34× | +0.14× |
| FY30 | $7.28M | $5.94M | 1.23× | +0.03× |
| FY31 | $7.46M | $6.11M | 1.22× | +0.02× |
| FY32 | $7.61M | $6.18M | 1.23× | +0.03× |
Same debt service. Net revenue reflects a 9.5% increase adopted in FY29 and no increase after it. Bond ordinance, section 5.2.
If the coverage the bonds require is higher than what customers can pay, rate design cannot close the gap. The board then has to reconsider the capital plan, the financing or the timing.
People
Ammar, Cameron and Vincent work on client engagements directly.
We will read your last rate study at no charge.
Send the last rate study, the audited statements, the current rate schedule and a recent billing extract. Meter logs and the capital plan help, but neither is required to start. We compare the study’s assumptions with the billing data and with what the system filed with its regulator.
[email protected]- Clients
- Water and sewer utilities, cities and utility districts
- Project team
- Ammar Plumber, Cameron Obrecht and Vincent Cavanna
The water loss index is a public example of this work, built from published data.