Preliminary 2021 Results for Systems Serving Less than 5,000 & Regional Systems

We appreciate all the responses we received for the 2021 AE2S Nexus Annual Utility Rate Survey. We have already begun mailing or hand delivering the 2021 edition of the annual Utility Rate Survey. AE2S Nexus hopes the results are useful to systems throughout the region as budgets are finalized and 2022 rates are set, by providing a regional measure for utilities to benchmark themselves against similar systems and/or nearby systems.

The Utility Rate Survey booklet contains charts of water, wastewater, and stormwater rates, as well as a Total Utility Bill that includes water, wastewater, and stormwater. Since each community faces different challenges, it is often useful to look at the combined utility rate when comparing the cost of utility service between communities. Before you receive your booklet, we wanted to provide a sneak peek at the results. 

The values reported in the following charts illustrate the monthly residential charge for a utility bill equating to 6,000 gallons of water and corresponding wastewater usage, as well as a stormwater charge, for systems serving less than 5,000 people. Figures 1 through 6 represent the reported total utility bill results for communities serving less than 5,000 people, by State.

Figures 7 through 9 illustrate the reported charges for 6,000 gallons of residential water service per month for regional system respondents, by State. 

Figure 10 represents the volumetric rate charged by large regional water systems that have been funded in part or in total by either government appropriations or other non-traditional funding approaches, such as the Western Area Water Supply Authority.  These systems were captured in a separate graphic due to their unique funding configurations and because they are not necessarily comparable to other regional systems.

AE2S Nexus received survey responses from 94 systems serving 5,000 or less and 43 regional water systems.  Substantial efforts were taken to report accurate data. Although verification efforts were completed, in some instances data may not have been provided in full or fully verified. We hope you find the survey results useful to your community or regional system as you evaluate your utility rates and plan for the future. If you have any questions related to the 2021 Annual Utility Rate Survey, please contact Miranda Kleven at 701-746-8087 or Miranda.Kleven@AE2S.com.