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<br /> III. Sewer Rate Analvsis <br /> 1. Review City's Current Sewer Rates <br /> Review the City's current sewer rates and rate structure for both equity and adequacy. <br /> Evaluate appropriateness of City's various residential and commercial customer classes and <br /> the charges levied on those customers. If available, identify the wastewater strength <br /> definitions of each customer class. Identify potential improvements to the City's sewer rate <br /> structure. Discuss findings with project team. <br /> 2. Identify & Evaluate Rate Alternatives <br /> Identify and evaluate alternative rate structures and/or potential modifications to the City's <br /> existing sewer rate structure and/or customer classification system. This can include <br /> evaluation of incorporating a pass-through component for wastewater treatment costs billed <br /> SBSA, if appropriate. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of different approaches. <br /> 3. Analyze Customer & Usage Data <br /> Review historical wastewater customer data and usage data for each customer class. Review <br /> water consumption, and wastewater flow and strength assumptions, for the various sewer <br /> customer classes. For example, the wastewater strength of a residential customer may be <br /> 200 mg/l BOD and 200 mg/l SS, while a restaurant may generate wastewater with <br /> substantially higher concentrations of 800 mg/l BOD and 1,000 mg/l SS. Sewer rates for <br /> each customer class should correspond with the estimated wastewater flow and strength of <br /> each type of customer. <br /> 4. Wastewater Cost Allocation <br /> Equitably allocate costs of wastewater collection and treatment to the various wastewater <br /> treatment parameters (e.g. flow, BOD, SS). Costs can either be allocated based on a detailed <br /> evaluation of City costs, or can be based on State Water Resources Control Board standards, <br /> which are commonly used in the industry. Calculate unit costs for each treatment parameter <br /> (flow, BOD, SS) based on the total projected loadings. The unit costs can then be applied to <br /> the loading profiles of each customer class to determine an appropriate rate for each customer <br /> type. Alternatively, the calculations can be used to verify the reasonableness of the City's <br /> current rates for each customer class. <br /> 5. Develop Preliminary Rate Recommendations <br /> Based on the annual revenue requirements developed in the sewer enterprise financial plan, <br /> and evaluation of rate modifications, develop preliminary sewer rate recommendations. <br /> The rate recommendations will based on a cost of service methodology. Required rate <br /> adjustments can be phased in over time, to the extent possible, to minimize the annual <br /> impacts on the City's customers. Work with City staff to ensure that recommended rates <br /> are compatible with the City's utility billing system. <br /> 6. Calculate Rate Impacts <br /> Calculate the impacts of potential sewer rate adjustments on City customers. This will <br /> include calculation of future monthly or bi-monthly bills under the potential rate options. <br /> 5 <br /> _....- "--..,,-._-._-~ <br />