What is BCDES doing to stabilize rates?

Encouraging Competition — In November 2005, BCDES began purchasing water from   Cincinnati. The contract with Cincinnati provides many benefits to customers which include helping to stabilize water rates over time.

Partnering with Hamilton and Cincinnati — To economize on total costs, we have negotiated with Hamilton and Cincinnati to share their plants and provide high-quality water. One result is lower overall expenses and plan investment than if we had built a separate plant at today's high costs.

Reducing Operational Costs — One way BCDES controls costs is by reducing lost water. "Lost water" is water that is purchased from our suppliers, but not delivered to our customers. Water loss can occur during water main and service line breaks, hydrant flushing, firefighting, theft and small leaks throughout the water distribution system.

Every one percent of lost water costs us about $87,000 per year in purchased water, electricity and chemical expenses. By being proactive, BCDES reduced the amount of lost water from 18 percent to 10 percent over the last three years, saving more than $600,000 per year.

In addition, BCDES has worked to lower operational costs by reducing staffing through retirement programs and attrition and investing in automation systems which has helped us improve workforce efficiency. We continue to develop strategies and long-term goals to limit future rate increases and create a stable rate structure for the future, which we anticipate will be very competitive and comparable to our neighbors.