ANALYSIS OF STRENGTH LOADING CHARACTERISTICS FOR WASTEWATER RATE CLASSIFICATION

This paper outlines the procedures employed and results obtained through an analysis of customer strength loading contributions conducted for purposes of defining customer rate classes. This form of analysis was undertaken to support recent utility cost-of-service analyses in the cities of Salem and Albany, Oregon and builds on work completed for the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission and the City of Portland, Oregon. The classification processes outlined address a long-standing shortcoming of typical utility customer classification systems that employ a limited number of broad rate classes (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial). In the context of rising wastewater rates, disaggregation of commercial customer classes offers one vehicle to enhance cost-of-service analyses and rate equity.