Those in the water industry are all too familiar with the ups and downs of providing services to customers at a reasonable cost that still allows you to pay your overhead and employees. If you purchase your water from another water vendor in order to supply your customers with what they need, you have likely also dealt with the fallout of the vendor increasing rates.
Your vendor’s rates might increase for a variety of reasons, but the two most likely culprits are infrastructure updates and inflation. Both of these can drive up the cost of water services, which in turn mean your vendor must charge you more.
Should You Adjust Your Rates?
The next logical step for your company would be to adjust the rates you are charging your customers to make up for the added cost and to ensure you will be able to continue providing water services. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) must approve all new rates, and has 60 days to give you approval. In the meantime, you are required to purchase a water tracker, which will be used to determine how much water your customers use and how much you will charge them based on the previous vendor rate you received.
This means that even after the 60 days, you still may have to wait to assess the new rates until a new service cycle starts, usually around the first of each month. You are paying a higher rate to your vendor, and receiving a lower rate from your customers. In short: This is not great news for your bottom line.
LWG is ready to help
Our team is proud to introduce our synchronized water tracker, which allows our clients to update their billing rates immediately after approval from the IURC. The approval process is the same, but the results are much different. Your company spends less time losing money and more time assisting your customers with their needs. We have experts on hand who understand the ins and outs of managing regulated utilities, and we take pride in assisting clients as they navigate these tricky waters. Call us to find out how we can help at 1-877-634-4747.