What's Water Worth
How Do You Figure Out the Price of Water?
Water falls freely from the sky. It costs nothing to stand in the rain. 那么当水被送到消费者手中时，平台登录在什么时候给它定价呢? 答案在于将水输送给用户所需的数千英里的管道，以及使这项服务成为可能的巨大基础设施投资.
Infrastructure Background
Clean, adequate, safe, and reliable drinking water protects public health, grows our economy, and provides a high quality of life. After decades of delivering high quality and reliable water service, our nation’s water systems are badly in need of upgrades and repair. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 从现在到2020年，需要840亿美元的投资来确保国家的供水系统能够继续提供安全可靠的服务. 在未来20年，加州以390亿美元的水利基础设施改善需求遥遥领先.
DG真人游戏务公司(SJW)面临着大多数其他水务公司正在努力解决的挑战. 前几代人投资了供水系统，所以平台登录可以享受可靠的供水服务. It is now our turn to make similar investments so that future generations benefit. Many water system components such as pipes, wells, and tanks, have reached the end of their useful lives and require replacement. Waiting until they fail is simply not an option.
更换水箱和管道等关键的水系统部件只是当今水系统面临的众多挑战之一. Others include water supply availability, increasingly stringent water quality compliance requirements, and declining usage. All these factors are increasing the cost of service.
However, these costs are being managed through careful planning, innovative deployment of technology, and sound engineering and construction. Continued investments to repair, replace, 修复供水系统还能为当地创造数千个就业机会，并有助于刺激当地经济.
Conservation and Rates
Some customers may ask: Why do my rates go up when I reduce my water use by 20%? And why isn’t my bill reduced by a proportional amount? 这是一个很好的问题，要解释这个问题需要了解你的水费账单上的固定成本和可变成本之间的区别.
Fixed costs
These include water mains or pipes, wells, pumps, valves, tanks, and fire hydrants among many other items. 这些费用不随用水量的变化而变化，占SJW总成本的60%. In your household, 你支付的租金或抵押贷款是固定成本，因为它不会随着住在房子里的人的数量而变化.
Variable costs
These include electricity, chemicals, equipment, and labor which can change based on actual water use. These costs make up the remaining 40%. Similarly, 你的家庭杂货和水电费可能会根据住在家里的人的数量而有所不同.
What Do Fixed and Variable Costs Mean in Reality?
假设某自来水公司计划在来年销售10单位水. 生产10个单位的总成本是10美元，所以公用事业公司最终必须支付10美元来支付总服务成本.
从公用事业的角度来看，他们的固定成本和可变成本分解如下. When we bill for service, 由于监管要求，固定成本和可变成本部分颠倒，如下所示.
| Utility (Cost of Service) | Customer (water bill) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed costs | $6.00 | Service (meter) charge | $4.00 | |
| Variable costs | $4.00 | Volumetric charge ($0.60/unit) | $6.00 | |
| Total cost to SJW | $10.00 | Total bill | $10.00 |
If the customer uses 10 units of water as shown above, 那么，即使固定成本和可变成本的比例不同，公用事业公司的服务成本也等于帐单金额.
现在让平台登录考虑同样的例子，当客户节省20%，现在只使用8个单位. The water utility’s fixed cost remains the same at $6.支付把水送到水龙头的费用，不管用水量是多是少. The variable cost is reduced 20% from $4.00 to $3.20. However, the customer is only billed $8.60 as shown below.
| Utility (Cost of Service) | Customer (water bill) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed costs | $6.00 | Service (meter) charge | $4.00 | |
| Variable costs | $3.20 | Volumetric charge ($0.60/unit) | $4.80 | |
| Total cost to SJW | $9.20 | Total bill | $8.80 |
Because the total bill is now less than the cost of service, 必须提高水的单位费率或可变费用，以弥补差额. 根据你的实际用水量，这可能不一定会导致更高的总水费.
How Affordable Is Your Water?
There are many ways to look at water affordability. In the past, there’s been one widely-used metric: median household income. However, this only considers one data point.
Real life is more complicated than that. For customers who may have the greatest challenges paying their water bills, it helps to have a more thorough look at affordability.
Recently, 加州公用事业委员会(CPUC)发布了2019年年度负担能力报告. 这份综合报告着眼于三种不同的衡量负担能力的方法:
- 按最低工资计算的工时-以支付最低工资所需的工时来描述基本服务费用. 它提供了一个清晰的说明，与美元金额相比，公用事业成本对低工资纳税人日常生活的影响.
- 社会经济脆弱性指数(SEVI) -从贫困的角度描述社区的相对社会经济特征, unemployment, educational attainment, linguistic isolation, 以及用于住房的收入百分比——量化相同的公用事业成本如何影响一个社区的支付能力. another.
- Affordability Ratio (AR) – Describes the impact an essential service bill has on a representative household’s budget; that is, 除住房和其他基本公用事业服务外，用于各类基本公用事业服务的收入占总收入的百分比. 这个指标可以在给定地区收入分配的任何一点上计算家庭.
2019年年度负担能力报告从第52页开始探讨水务公司. 使用上面列出的三个指标，SJW的服务区域被认为是“负担得起的”部分. However, we realize that customers have different financial situations. Any utility bill that has a large impact can be a burden. SJW offers a Customer Assistance Program (CAP)，以前被称为水费援助计划(WRAP)，为需要财务帮助的客户提供帮助.
虽然这份报告很好地深入探讨了一个重要的主题，但仍有更多的工作要做. The CPUC will be utilizing this information as it makes rules and sets rates.
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/2019-Annual-Affordability-Report/
Where Your Dollar Goes
Safe and reliable water service is essential to maintain public health, firefighting capability, and economic prosperity. 为了保护公众健康和安全并继续提供可靠的服务, SJW must increase investments in all water system components, such as pipelines, wells, pumps, and tanks when they reach the end of their useful lives.
平台登录的目标是以尽可能低的成本提供高质量的水和卓越的客户服务. 平台登录努力提供业内最好的水务服务，并拥有高效运作的良好记录. But we don't have control over some costs. 你在平台登录这里花的每一美元中有将近一半用于支付供水成本和联邦政府, state, and local taxes. See how each one of your bill dollars is spent:
40 Cents: Water Supply Costs 包括圣克拉拉谷水区购买处理过的水和从地下蓄水层抽取地下水所需的费用.
22 Cents: Operating Costs include operations, maintenance, purchased power from PG&E, and administrative expenses.
22 Cents: System Improvements 包括与平台登录的配水系统和折旧相关的资本改进成本.
7 Cents: Taxes and Fees include federal, state, and local taxes.
9 Cents: Cost of Capital 包括为改善供水系统提供资金所需的股本回报.