Raftelis was engaged by both Greenville Water (GW) and Renewable Water Resources (ReWa) to examine the cost-of-service and rate methodology used to determine the billing and collection charges that GW assesses to ReWa and eight other utility entities for the billing services it provides. GW provides billing services to ReWa, the Berea Sewer District, seven Sewer sub-districts, and the City of Greenville solid waste, and recovers the costs of these services through four different categories of billing and collection charges. The billing and collection charges assessed to ReWa and the other entities receiving billing and customer services were updated as part of GW’s 2009 cost of service and rate study performed by another consulting firm. ReWa expressed concerns over the methodology used to calculate its updated billing and collection charge per quarterly bill. To address ReWa’s concerns and identify an acceptable solution to move ahead, Raftelis examined the updated billing and collection charge calculation and facilitated several joint workshops related to the current methodology and process used to implement the updated charges. As another result of the analysis, Raftelis developed several alternative approaches to determining the billing and collection charges that the utilities are currently considering. The primary objective is for GW and ReWa to agree upon and implement the most acceptable and equitable approach in recovering the various levels of service that each of the utility entities receives from GW.
Currently, Raftelis provides annual rate and financial services to GW including developing a financial forecast of revenues, expenses, and rates over a five-year forecast period. As part of this analysis, Raftelis prepares a detailed examination of consumption and revenues over a rolling five-year historical period, to provide a basis for customer account and billable demand projections used in the rate and financial planning model. Raftelis has also supported GW in developing a rate methodology for its wholesale customers.
