Sustaining the NEORSD mission with rates and affordability

NEORSD Rate and Affordability Study using WARi®

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) serves most of the City of Cleveland, as well as 61 suburban communities that surround it. With such a large service area, they have large needs slated to cost $5 billion over the next 30 years. That means an average of $165 million per year, and to sustain the District’s capital and operating needs, they needed to raise rates while remaining sensitive to the financial burdens these increases could pose to Cleveland residents.

NEORSD brought us in to develop strategies to sustain the District’s mission. Far from the typical rate study, our collaboration with the District addressed affordability issues up front by integrating detailed income demographics, the efficiency of the District’s affordability programs, and detailed customer surveys. These features helped give NEORSD one of the most progressive and income-sensitive rate structures in the US.

With WARi™ (our proprietary approach that focuses on population details by neighborhoods, income distribution, and real bills), we’re giving NEORSD the tools they need to understand affordability throughout their entire service area—in tandem with their normal rate-setting process. This means they can maximize their services and stay on track for the next 30 years.