Dude, where’s my rates? Best (and worst) practices in providing rate information online

Rates are among the most important and contentious elements of utility policy and management. Historically, the main way that customers received information about rates was through their bills or local print media. Increasingly, however, customers go first to online sources for information about their utilities. How well do water and sewer utilities’ websites convey rate information? This presentation reports the results of a study of rate information from hundreds of water and sewer utility websites. In 2017, researchers at Texas A&M University developed a nationally-representative dataset on water and wastewater rates. The study gathered rate data from hundreds of utilities of various sizes, locations, and organizational structures. In addition to rate data, the study also assessed the relative transparency of rates on utility websites. We report on best and worst practices for communicating rates online.