Ivey, Jennifer

Jennifer Ivey is with Carollo Engineers, based in Dallas, Texas.

Titles from this speaker

Addressing Affordability in San Antonio with a Separate Rate Structure

Abstract

The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) recently completed a rate study to develop rate structure recommendations to equitably recover costs from its customers. One of the primary objectives of the study was to evaluate options to improve affordability for SAWS’ qualified low-income residential customers. The study evaluated multiple options and presented the results of each to SAWS’ Rate Advisory Committee (RAC), which was made up of 21 members representing all types of customers. The RAC provided feedback to SAWS staff and Carollo and ultimately recommended the affordability rate structure which was approved by SAWS’ Board of Trustees and adopted by the City Council.

The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) recently implemented a new rate structure to improve affordability for its qualified low-income residential customers. This paper reviews the process of evaluating affordability options with SAWS' Rate Advisory Committee (RAC) in several public meetings and provides the impact of the recommendations on the utility bills of the eligible customers.

SpeakerIvey, Jennifer

Presentation time

10:30:00

11:30:00

Session time

10:30:00

11:30:00

SessionSolving Customer Affordability Concerns With Innovative Rate Structure

Session locationRoom S402a - Level 4

TopicDiversity, Equity & Inclusion, Intermediate Level, Public Communication and Outreach, Utility Management and Leadership

Author(s)

Ivey, Jennifer

Author(s)J. Ivey 1; C. Velasquez 2 ; M. Bailey 2; J. Ivey 1;

Author affiliation(s)Carollo Engineers, Inc., Dallas, TX 1; San Antonio Water System, San Antonio, TX 2 ; San Antonio Water System, San Antonio, TX 2; Carollo Engineers, Inc. 1;

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2023

DOI10.2175/193864718825159197

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count11

Coming Soon! A New System Development Charges Manual

Abstract

Water utilities across the nation are facing the challenge of doing much more with fewer resources. Face it, our industry attempts to recover mostly fixed costs from a mostly variable revenue source, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so, especially when you factor in affordability concerns. This is why it is so important for utilities to examine their other sources of revenue. System development charges (SDCs), or impact fees, are a common source of non-rate revenues for funding system expansions and/or improvements required to serve new users. An SDC is a one-time charge assessed to new development to pay for the capacity in the system required to serve them. They can also be assessed to existing customers requiring an increase in capacity. AWWA's M1 Manual, Principles of Water Rates, Fees, and Charges, 7th Edition (M1), provides a high-level discussion of SDCs in Chapter VII.2. To address the increasing interest in an expanded discussion of SDCs, AWWA plans to develop a new manual focused on SDCs and with sufficient detail to be truly helpful to a utility without experience implementing or updating SDCs. SDC BASICS Specifically designed to recover an equitable share of the cost of system infrastructure from growth, SDCs provide a source of capital funding along with user rates, debt financing, and up-front reimbursements from developers. SDCs assign the capacity cost of growth to those causing the growth rather than existing ratepayers. In addition, SDCs can recover a portion of the cost of improvements to the existing system if there is existing capacity available to serve new customers. Infrastructure commonly financed with SDCs include water rights, source of supply, treatment plant facilities, pumping, and transmission lines, sometimes collectively referred to as 'backbone' facilities. Water distribution mains are typically constructed by developers and therefore not usually included. A rational nexus must exist between the SDC amount and the costs associated with serving new users, whether or not the system needs to be expanded to serve them. According to the M1 manual, there are three basic methods for calculating SDCs: (1) the buy-in method, (2) the incremental cost method, and (3) the combined approach. Depending on the utility's goals, objectives, legal constraints, and financial circumstances, one method may be more appropriate than another. KEY TOPICS TO EXPAND ON The SDC chapter in M1 addresses several key topics, including the basic approaches to calculating SDCs and methods of fairly administering SDCs to customers with varying capacity requirements, at a very high level. A manual devoted entirely to SDCs will be able to expand on these topics, as well as many others, to give readers the additional detail they need to develop fair and equitable SDCs to enhance their revenue stream. The SDC manual will include additional examples to help readers understand the calculations for all components of the SDC. The new manual will explore eligible costs related to growth or capacity-related improvements to include as part of the capital improvements plan. Such topics as raw water supply capacity costs, regional transmission costs, interest or financing costs of eligible improvements, and debt service costs related to growth/capacity infrastructure for purchased water treatment services will be explored in greater detail. One key topic that the SDC manual will expand upon is the methods of assessing SDCs to different types of customers, particularly the advantages and disadvantages of each method to help a utility determine which method is appropriate for their service area. With development trends evolving to include accessory dwelling units, mixed-use (e.g. apartments above ground-level retail shops), single-resident occupancy units, and green/low-impact development, there is growing interest in standards for assigning equivalent units to these types of properties to ensure that they pay their fair share of system costs. Another key topic to be expanded upon in the new SDC manual will be defining system capacity. Because system capacity is not available in the same proportions throughout the various functional components of the water system (source of supply, treatment, pumping, storage, etc.) care must be taken to calculate the SDC component cost by functional cost component. This allows the utility to recognize variations in system capacity, system value, and customer capacity needs by functional area. The fundamental formula for calculating an SDC is: (System Value/System Capacity) X New customer capacity demands = SDC Summing the SDC functional component costs yields the water system SDC. The new SDC manual will examine some of the ways a utility can accomplish this task. NEW TOPICS TO INCLUDE The new SDC manual will include the following topics: (1) a summary of legislation by state, which varies widely; (2) guidance for SDCs regarding potential challenges and/or litigation; (3) administrative procedures and accounting requirements for SDCs; (4) land use assumption plans; (5) utilization of potential demand (capacity-based) versus estimated/actual demand (usage-based); and (6) incorporating major changes such as SDC process changes and definitions of Equivalent Residential Units (ERUs). In addition, the new SDC manual will contain more step-by-step examples for the reader. OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION The presentation will provide a summary of SDC basics, including uses and methodologies for calculating them, as well as explaining the drivers behind development of the new manual. The presentation will provide examples of expanded and new topics and introduce the proposed timeline for developing and publishing of the SDC manual.

This paper was presented at the WEF/AWWA Utility Management Conference, February 21-24, 2022.

SpeakerIvey, Jennifer

Presentation time

09:00:00

09:30:00

Session time

08:30:00

10:00:00

SessionRate & Affordability Benchmarking from NYC to Capacity Fee Evolutions on the West Coast

Session number13

Session locationHyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando, Florida

Topicaffordability, Capacity Charges/SDCs, Funding, Rates

Author(s)

J. IveyL. McCartney

Author(s)J. Ivey 1; L. McCartney 2

Author affiliation(s)Carollo Engineers 1; UMC Speaker 2

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Feb 2022

DOI10.2175/193864718825158273

Volume / Issue

Content sourceUtility Management Conference

Word count9

Description: Hit Them Where It Hurts: Enforcing Drought Restrictions With Surcharges and...

Hit Them Where It Hurts: Enforcing Drought Restrictions With Surcharges and Violation Charges

Abstract

Introduction The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) is one of the nation's largest municipally owned utilities, providing service to over 500,000 water customers and over 450,000 wastewater customers throughout portions of Bexar, Medina, and Atascosa counties. SAWS' operations and capital requirements are funded primarily from user charge revenues and impact fees; SAWS does not receive tax revenue. Impact fees are designed to cover the capital investment associated with new development so existing customers do not subsidize construction costs of expanding capacity for future customers. User charges must cover the remaining costs, including the higher costs associated with drought conditions. The Problem SAWS has experienced a prolonged and severe drought making it necessary to implement watering rules to reduce outdoor, discretionary water usage. In an effort to avoid more severe watering restrictions, SAWS sought to improve the effectiveness, fairness, and efficiency of the current watering rules. The issues that needed to be addressed included:
The process for enforcing the watering rules depended on citations issued through the municipal court system, which is slow to resolve cases, making the citation consequence less effective.
SAWS received none of the citation revenue despite significant costs associated with patrolling to identify violators, the increased volume of water used by violators, and administration.
The charges for citation-based violations did not escalate within the court system despite it being possible for this to occur. Charges were also the same regardless of total water usage, which made the relatively modest charge meaningless for very large corporate sites and diminished any motivation for repeat violators to stop.
Analysis showed that while up to 90% of customers were following the rules and using modest amounts of water, 5-10% of customers were still using so much discretionary water that more severe measures would likely be necessary without a change. There was a desire within SAWS' leadership and Board of Trustees to have faster, more targeted, and more effective violation consequences for very high landscape water users, to have violation charges processed quickly, and to have SAWS recover the costs of the enforcement process. Solutions SAWS Conservation and Legal staff worked with Carollo Engineers, Inc., to develop a multi-component approach to address the problems listed above. The proposed charges are based on the estimated costs incurred by SAWS to produce higher volumes of water during drought periods when pumping from the lowest-cost source of supply, the Edwards Aquifer, is restricted and SAWS is forced to utilize the higher-cost supplies, including its desalination facility. The proposed solution included:
Implementing a new Drought Stage Three that maintains Drought Stage Two watering days and times but adds a high-use surcharge aimed at high landscape water usage for single-family residential accounts and irrigation accounts associated with commercial sites.
Implementing a watering violation charge to be included on the water bill that is based on the additional costs associated with excessive demand during drought periods. This would also include higher charges for repeat violations and for extremely high landscape usage at commercial sites.
Implementing a SAWS-managed dispute resolution process since courts would no longer be available for this. Include a citizen committee to review highly escalated cases.
Implementing a one-hour 'Defensive Watering' class to waive the first violation charge for single family residential accounts. Results The implemented changes have been tremendously successful.
Usage dropped from 121 gallons per capita per day (gpcd) prior to implementation to 114 gpcd in 2024 despite changes being in place for only six months of that year. SAWS anticipates that 2025 usage will be even lower even while holding at Stage Three rule implementation.
Total violations dropped nearly 50% despite having more active patrol staff.
Repeat violations dropped by 85%.
Over 60% of eligible customers took the Defensive Watering Class and of those, only 2% had a repeat violation. This greatly reduced angst from customers who believed they had made an honest mistake and wanted leniency. However, they understood that a second violation would have a much higher cost.
Customers were able to interact quickly with SAWS staff to clear up any misunderstandings about violations and same-day dismissed cases (e.g., a zero-lot property line where it is clear there was an administrative error).
Less than 5% of cases escalate to the new Dispute Resolution Committee which can uphold or dismiss them after hearing information. While most are upheld, a few are dismissed. The process has been smooth and is completed within 6 weeks as opposed to the 6 to 12-month timeline that a dispute required with the municipal courts. â€¢High use single family residential and commercial irrigation accounts substantially dropped their usage after surcharges were implemented. The percentage of single-family residential accounts that reached the threshold for applying a surcharge dropped from 5% to 2.5%. Commercial irrigation water sales also dropped substantially.
SAWS also saw an acceleration in adoption of WaterSaver landscape at sites that had previously been irrigating large areas of grass. While the surcharge and violation charges were not designed to recover revenue reductions from expected reduced water sales, the revenue from these sources has helped offset the reduced sales. SAWS is currently analyzing the true impact of the drought enforcement charges on total revenue and will be able to provide that information in the presentation.

This paper was presented at the WEF/AWWA Utility Management Conference in Charlotte, NC, March 24-27, 2026.

Presentation time

10:30:00

10:50:00

Session time

10:30:00

12:00:00

SessionSession 17: Rates and Charges for Weather and Large User Resilience

Session locationCharlotte Convention Center

TopicFinancial Resilience

Author(s)

Ivey, Jennifer, Wright, Martha, Velasquez, Cecilia, Barnes, Isalah