Great Lakes RCAP assistance is available upon request at no cost to qualifying communities. To get assistance, call your local, state, or regional office identified on the Contact Us page.
MCAAA and Great Lakes RCAP are equal opportunity employers and providers.
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Rate Review and Budget Analysis
One of the services that is often requested is a review of Utility rates for small systems. No one really wants to talk about raising rates, but as a system owner/manager or board member it is your responsibility to ensure that you are charging your customers enough to cover all the expenses of the system. You are also responsible for spreading those charges fairly among all your customers. We will talk about Drinking Water systems, but the principles are the same for Wastewater treatment systems.
The water may be free, but pumping, treating, storing, distributing, operating, and maintaining the system in compliance with state and federal regulations isn’t free. And the costs of doing all of this is going up every year. Remember, it’s easier to raise rates a little every year than to keep rates the same for 5-10 years and then raise them a LOT to cover increased expenses.
Michigan RCAP can help you determine the true cost of operating your system, and determine a fair rate to charge your customers. And when it comes time to notify your customers of a rate change, we will be there to help answer questions and explain why costs have gone up.
A quick note about Asset Management Asset Management is planning for refurbishment and replacement of the critical components of your system. Sooner or later, everything fails and must be replaced if your system is to continue to operate. Asset Management helps to assign priorities to the most critical equipment and determine how much money should be set aside in a reserve fund to allow for replacement without shutting down your system.
Do you have a reverse fund set aside for equipment replacement? Beginning in 2009, the State of Michigan will require drinking water systems serving over 3,300 people to have an Asset Management program in place. Michigan RCAP can help you do this.
The US EPA has issued a new Asset Management software program that is easy to use and not too hard to learn. It is called CUPSS (Check Up for Small Systems). CUPSS is a free, easy-to-use, asset management tool for small drinking water and wastewater utilities. CUPSS provides a simple, comprehensive approach based on EPA's highly successful Simple Tools for Effective Performance (STEP) Guide series. Use CUPSS to help you develop
* A record of your assets * A schedule of required tasks * An understanding of your financial situation * A tailored asset management plan
If you are interested, the EPA website is here : CUPSS Link. We also provide training to use this program. Contact us if you want to learn more about this new easy to use program.
This website has been made possible as a result of funding from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Community Services Safety and Security Grant, and funding from the National RCAP/USDA Technitrain program - an RCAP network project
