WI Water Rates Dashboard

Rates Comparison

Select residential bill and monthly consumption amount

xxx
xxx cubic feet

Monthly Water Bill After Rates Increase: 0.00 (0.00/gal)

Select comparison group:

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***Caution***
Revenue impacts are highly speculative. For more detailed modeling, the EFC's Water and Wastewater Rates Analysis Model is a free tool that examines how revenues at your utility could be affected by various changes in rate structures. However, neither of these tools should be used in place of an in-depth rate study.
***Caution***
Assumes across-the-board rate increases for all customer classes. Projected revenue impacts assume a 3 percent drop in demand for every 10 percent increase in price. Accuracy of projections decreases as the proposed rate increase gets larger.

Comparing to

0 rate structures compared

Effects of raising rates by:

Median:

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Median:

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Currently selected comparison group:

This dial shows what a residential customer is charged monthly for gallons on his or her water bill relative to other utilities in the selected comparison group.

What about public fire protection charges?
If a utility has a public fire protection (PFP) charge, this has been included in the bill calculated in this dial. PFP charges may be collected as an addition to the water bill, the property tax bill, or a combination of both. Please see the "More Info" box within the interactive map window for details on utility-specific PFP charges. For purposes of this survey, all PFP charges are modeled as an addition to the existing base charge. PFP charges cover the costs to augment the utility’s water system in order to provide the high flows and pressures needed to fight fires. The augmented water plant attributable to fire protection includes wells, water treatment equipment, pumps, storage facilities, water mains, and hydrants. The cost of the water used to fight fires is not included, as it is relatively insignificant compared to the cost of the related plant. More information on PFP charges in Wisconsin can be found here.

What do the colors mean? The dark green band spanning the middle of the dial shows the spread of bills for the middle 50% of utilities in the comparison group at the chosen consumption level. Utilities that fall within this color band are charging similar amounts to the middle majority of comparable utilities. The full green band (including the two lighter green bands on either side of the dark green band) reflect what the middle 80% of comparable utilities are charging.

The yellow bands at the bottom and top of the dial's span reflect the bills that a minority of comparable utilities are charging. The yellow band at the bottom, on the left, shows the lowest 10% of bills charged by the comparable utilities. Utilities charging much lower than their peers may be at higher risk of not generating sufficient revenue to cover their expenses and should assess the long-term financial health of the utility. On the other end, the yellow band at the top of the dial, on the right, shows the highest 10% of bills charged by comparable utilities. While high rates typically reflect higher costs associated with providing water in certain areas of the state, high rates may create concerns with customer affordability.

However, the color bands of this dial are meant to serve as visual cues for where a utility falls within its peer group, and do not by themselves fully indicate the merit of a utility’s rate setting practices. For a more in-depth analysis of rate and their financial implications, please use our free Water & Wastewater Rates Analysis Model tool.

= Operating Revenues

Operating Expenses including depreciation & amortization

Audited data for FY

Operating Revenues
Operating Expenses including depreciation
Depreciation & amortization expense

Cost Recovery is a measure of whether the utility’s rates were sufficient to cover the cost of operations and capital (in the form of depreciation) for the fiscal year. It is calculated by dividing operating revenues by operating expenses including depreciation expense.

In the case of some utilities that do not report depreciation in operating expenses, depreciation is excluded from the operating expenses, and thus the ratio only measures whether the utility's rates were sufficient to cover the cost of O&M. A ratio of less than 1.0 could be a sign of financial concern. In general, this ratio should be higher than 1.0 in order to accommodate future capital investments.

Click on the tab labeled "Financial Benchmarks" to observe several indicators for a more holistic view of your utility's financial condition.
For a more in-depth look at your utility's financial sustainability, use our free

Financial Health Checkup for Water Utilities Tool

The financial data displayed are for Fiscal Year , adjusting for the rate increase you selected below and the estimates of consequential reduction of water use.

Data Not Available.

Among 462 utilities in FY 2014, 49% had a ratio of >= 1, and 16% had a ratio of >= 1.2.

= Annual Bill (Monthly Bill times 12 Months Per Year)

Annual Median Household Income

Raw Data

Annual Bills
Annual MHI

This dial shows what a household making the median level of income in would spend annually, as a percent of their income, on using per month. Half of the households in the community would be spending a greater portion of their income for these bills.

The median affordability metric is often referred to as "percent Median Household Income (MHI)". It is only one of many metrics that can be used to assess affordability. There is no universally accepted definition of what "affordable rates" means and other factors such as poverty rate, income distribution, and fixed income will influence the affordability of rates in a community. The color spectrum reflects that this metric is on a continuum, without any single threshold that dictates what is affordable or unaffordable. The MHI data are derived from the U.S. Census Bureau's 5-year American Community Survey estimates for x MHI (in dollars).

For a more comprehensive look at affordability in your community using multiple metrics, use our

Residential Rates Affordability Assessment Tool

For more information about percent MHI, including considerations about its assumptions,

read this blog post about Percent MHI Indicator

For an in-depth look at customer affordability programs, read our report:

Navigating Legal Pathways to Rate-Funded Customer Assistance Programs:
A Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities

Data Not Available: Though data for this dial is not available for this utility, the dial can be turned on by the user manually inputting the relevant data.

Click on the “Edit Data or Add Utility” button in the upper right corner and either clone and edit your utility, or create a new utility entry from scratch. This feature allows users to edit or enter data relating to utility finances, rates, and demographics, which will then be reflected on the dashboard. For example, adding the Annual Median Household Income for a utility’s community will turn on the Affordability dial, while the Cost Recovery Dial is controlled by a utility’s Annual Operating Revenues and Expenses including Depreciation.
Please note that the edited data are temporarily saved in the user’s browser cookies, not permanently written to the database. The edited data can only be viewed on that particular device. To share results from the Edit Data or Add Utility feature, you must print or take a screenshot of the dashboard while the dial is active.

Financial Benchmarks

Ability to cover expenditures and debt service

Measure of Liquidity for FY 2018

Ability to cover expenditures and debt service

Cost Recovery

Leverage

Condition of physical assets

= Operating Revenues

Operating Expenses excluding Depreciation & Amortization

Audited data for FY

Operating Revenues
Operating Expenses
Depreciation & Amortization Expense

This non-capital operating ratio measures the ability to cover day-to-day expenditures, excluding depreciation, using operating revenues (mostly charges to customers).

A ratio of less than indicates that revenues were insufficient to cover the utility's day-to-day expenditures, let alone debt service or future capital expenses.

This indicator does not include considerations for depreciation or capital costs. In general, this ratio should be significantly higher than 1.0 to accommodate capital investments.

Among 461 utilities in FY 2019, 89% had a ratio of >=, and 31% had a ratio of >=

= Current Assets excluding Inventories & Prepaids

Current Liabilities

Audited data for FY

Current Assets
Current Liabilities

Quick Ratio is a measure of short-term liquidity. That is, a utility’s ability to pay its current bills. It may be calculated as the ratio of unrestricted current assets (excluding inventories and pre-paids) to current liabilities (including deferred revenues and excluding BAN’s), although there are also other ways to calculate quick ratio. The industry-accepted minimum benchmark for this ratio is 2, although utilities should strive to achieve a higher ratio for financial security. For utilities that provide sewer, electric, and/or gas service, the quick ratio reflects financial data for the combined services.

Among 407 utilities in FY 2019, 80% had a ratio of >=, and 67% had a ratio of >=,

= Operating Revenues

Operating Expenses including Depreciation & Amortization

Audited data for FY

Operating Revenues
Operating Expenses

This operating ratio indicates whether operating revenues (mostly charges to customers) were sufficient to cover operations and capital (in the form of depreciation) for the water and/or wastewater utility in the fiscal year.

It is calculated by dividing operating revenues by operating expenses including depreciation. A ratio of less than could be a sign of financial concern. In general, this ratio should be higher than to accommodate future capital investments.

Among 462 utilities in FY 2019, 49% had a ratio of >= , and 16% had a ratio of >= .

= Total Long Term Debt

Total Net Assets (Fund Equality)

Audited data for FY

Total Long-Term Debt
Total Net Assets or Fund Equity

This indicator measures the existing level of leveraging of assets, and is used by funders and bond rating agencies to evaluate the risk of providing additional loans to the utility. The ratio indicates the amount of long-term debt that exists for every $1 of assets (fund equity). A utility with a ratio greater than 1.0 has more long-term debt than equity in the system’s assets. There are no natural benchmarks for this indicator, and funders and bond rating agencies will assess this ratio in various ways. In general, the higher this ratio, the more likely the utility will be considered to be over-leveraged and the more difficult it will be for the utility to obtain additional loans.

For this ratio, Net Assets are equal to the Net Investment Rate Base of the utility.

Among 462 utilities in FY 2019, 64% had a ratio lower than , and 93% had a ratio lower than 1.

= Accumulated Infrastructure Depreciation Expense

Total Depreciable Assets

Audited data for FY

Accumulated Infrastructure Depreciation Expense
Total Depreciable Assets

This indicator of infrastructure condition estimates the portion of the average expected life of the utility’s physical assets that has already passed.

As this ratio approaches 100%, the capital assets become fully depreciated, and infrastructure needs replacement or rehabilitation.

The accuracy of this indicator relies heavily on the accuracy of the depreciation schedule, and historic pricing likely distorts this indicator (newer utilities may be slightly disadvantaged as a result).

Among 461 utilities in FY 2019, 44% have used up less than a quarter of their asset's expected life, and 100% used up less than half of their expected life.

= Operating Revenues

Operating Expenses including depreciation & amortization

Audited data for FY

Operating Revenues
Operating Expenses including depreciation
Depreciation & amortization expense

The financial data displayed are for Fiscal Year , adjusting for the rate increase you selected below and the estimates of consequential reduction of water use.

Data Not Available: Though data for this dial is not available for this utility, the dial can be turned on by the user manually inputting the relevant data.

Click on the “Edit Data or Add Utility” button in the upper right corner and either clone and edit your utility, or create a new utility entry from scratch. This feature allows users to edit or enter data relating to utility finances, rates, and demographics, which will then be reflected on the dashboard. For example, adding the Annual Median Household Income for a utility’s community will turn on the Affordability dial, while the Cost Recovery Dial is controlled by a utility’s Annual Operating Revenues and Expenses including Depreciation.

Please note that the edited data are temporarily saved in the user’s browser cookies, not permanently written to the database. The edited data can only be viewed on that particular device. To share results from the Edit Data or Add Utility feature, you must print or take a screenshot of the dashboard while the dial is active.

Among 462 utilities in FY 2014, 49% had a ratio of >= 1, and 16% had a ratio of >= 1.2.

Characteristics

Utility Owner
Ownership type
Primary County
Primary service area
Date Rates Effective

		Statewide Stats
Number of Systems	1	579

Est. Number of Connections
Est. Service Population
Operating Revenue
Operating Expense
Current Assets

Census Year		2018
Average Household Size		2.4
Median Household Income		$59,209
Poverty Rate		11.87%

Links

This Rates Dashboard is designed to assist utility managers, finance directors, Board members, local officials, reporters, and customers to compare their utility's residential water rates against multiple attributes, including system characteristics, customer base demographics, and geography. Rates and financial data for this dashboard are provided by the Division of Water Utility Regulation and Analysis at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC).

The PSC oversees more than 580 drinking water utilities operating in Wisconsin, including municipal and investor-owned utilities. The PSC's authority extends to any water system that provides water to the public for domestic, commercial, or industrial purposes. However, regional water authorities, cooperatives, water trusts, and private wells are generally not subject to PSC regulation. To help ensure that the state's water utilities have sufficient financial capacity to provide public health and safety, the PSC establishes and approves rates and monitors utilities' financial sufficiency. The rate-setting process typically addresses multiple objectives, including cost recovery, affordability, economic development, resource sustainability, and other community-specific factors.

This Water Rates Dashboard was created by the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. The Rates Dashboard is updated periodically to provide the most accurate data for decision-making and analysis. Additional free resources for water utilities are provided below.

Resources for Wisconsin

PSC Quarterly Water Bill Comparison Tool

PSC Water Reports & Resources

DNR Water & Wastewater Funding Sources

DNR Capacity Development Program

EPA Water Finance Clearinghouse

Additional Tools and Resources

Direct Assistance for Small Systems

Financial Health Checkup for Water Utilities

Plan to Pay: Fund Your Capital Improvement Plan

Residential Rates Affordability Assessment

Email Feedback or Comments

Affordability

Demographic Information ?
Service Area
2018 Percent Poverty
2018 Percent Below 2x Federal Poverty Income
2018 Median Household Income
2018 20th Percentile Income
2018 Unemployment

System and Community Info

Water System Characteristics Obtained from SDWIS and the CA Water Board
PWSID
Community Water System Name
Primary Water Source Type
Number of Monitoring Violations 2017-2020		?
Number of Water Quality Violations 2017-2020		?
Service Population		?
Number of Connections		?
Percent of Connections that are Metered		?
Compliance Status with the Human Right to Water watchlist in 2020		?

Community Characteristics Obtained from the Census Bureau ?
Service Area
Population 2018
Population 2010
Population Change

Please select a utility above to view current Wisconsin rates survey data.

When the dashboard appears, you will see the first utility alphabetically in the survey group. Please select the desired utility/rate structure, monthly usage, and comparison group of your choosing on the left half of the dashboard.

Please click the “OK” button below when you are ready to proceed.