To: Members of the Castle Rock Water Commission
From:
Mark Marlowe, P.E., Director of Castle Rock Water
Anne Glassman, Business Solutions Manager
Title
2019 Rates & Fees Study Deliverable - Customer Characteristics
Body
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As part of the annual rates and fees study, Castle Rock Water staff gathers several pieces of information to input into the four enterprise models for calculating rates, system development fees and cost of service. Throughout the study, staff will bring to Commission some of those inputs and deliverables used for this process. This month we would like to present the customer characteristics analysis updated with the most current 2018 billing data.
The analysis looks at year over year consumption patterns of our customers taking into consideration weather patterns, growth and usage by meter size and customer class. Given the results of the analysis there are a few areas of concern that staff will be looking at in more depth.
Despite ongoing water conservation efforts, the residential three-year average monthly consumption continues to trend upward. This is a concerning trend given this is based on average monthly consumption and not related to growth in number of customer accounts. The percentage of residential accounts in surcharge has been increasing over time as well. Staff will be taking a closer look at these customers so see if consumption over 40,000 gallons is normal or that of an isolated occurrence, such as a leak.
Another area of interest is the annual consumption and revenues in the outdoor watering tier 2 and tier 3. The 2018 billing data shows that 52% of the consumption is in tier 2 and 3 combined, with a more significance on the 68% of the revenues for Castle Rock Water generated in tier 2 and 3. This presents a revenue risk if conservation takes effect and customers slow down outside watering and incorporate ColoradoScapes.
Castle Rock Water provides customers with bulk hydrant and bulk station options. The bulk station usage has been trending down over the last few years. However, the bulk hydrant usage for growth related construction over the last three years has risen sharply putting a significant demand on the water supply.
Attachments:
Attachment A: Customer Characteristics Analysis