Relevant Publications | Relevant Links

Controlling operations and maintenance costs, while providing appropriate levels of service to customers, is an important part of achieving an efficient water utility. In the competitive marketplace, control of such costs is a routine part of the management function as firms are under constant pressure to minimize costs while providing a product which customers want to buy. Water utilities are sheltered from this pressure and it shows: some utilities are on a sustained improvement track, but many others keep falling further behind best practice. Performance differentials are striking, even across countries at similar income levels.

The water sector offers limited scope for such direct competition. For this reason, inter-utility performance comparison is needed to help understand how well a water utility is performing. Access to comparative information (benchmarking) will support the development of well-run companies and provide key stakeholders with the information they need to do their jobs better, helping different stakeholders in the following specific ways:

• Utility managers and employees: to adopt realistic targets and convince authorities of the need for change. Such improvements might be in the areas of revenue streams, capital costs, or general financial management of the utility.
• Governments: to monitor and adjust sector policies and programs;
• Regulators: to ensure that customers get value and that providers have incentives to perform and will stay financed if they do;
• Customer groups and NGOs: to exercise "voice" in an informed manner;
• Aid agencies and advisers: to identify what works, advise their clients accordingly and demonstrate and promote successful tried approaches the advice with convincing before-and-after stories; and
• Private investors: to identify viable markets and opportunities for creating value.

The World Bank has launched an initiative to encourage water and sanitation utilities to compile and share a set of core cost and performance indicators, and to meet the needs of various stakeholders. The initiative is called Benchmarking Water & Sanitation Utilities: A Start-Up Kit. (PDF: 46KB)

Relevant Publications

The AMSA Financial Survey.

Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA), 1996
Chronicles national trends in water pollution control financing. Both financial management and rate structures receive comprehensive examination in this triennial publication.

Financial and Operating Report for 1997.

National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), 1998.

Has data for 89 investor-owned water companies in the USA.

Second Water Utilities Data Book, 1997.

Asian Development Bank .

 

OFWAT publications have a wealth of information about what data to collect, how to develop a 20-year plan, how to seek out customer preferences.

Publications available from OWFAT include:

 

A proposed approach to assessing overall service to customers — A technical paper
Capital Investment and Financial Performance of Water Companies in England and Wales
Capital Works Unit Costs in the Water Industry
Cost of Water Delivered and Sewage Collected — 1994-95
< EM>Report on Company Performance
Report on Leakage and Water Efficiency
Report on Levels of Service
Tariff Structure and Charges, 1995-99
Water and Sewerage Service Operating Costs and Efficiency — 1996-98

 

Water & Wastewater Utilities Indicators, 2^nd Edition (PDF: 815KB)

Guillermo Yepes and Augusta Dianderas, Water and Sanitation Division, World Bank, 1996.

Indicators on Water and Wastewater services, mainly in urban areas, have been collected from a selected group of utilities from industrialized and developing countries. The indicators have been grouped into three sets: Operational Indicators, Financial Indicators, and Overview of Tariff Structures.

WSAAFacts for 1996-1998. Water Services Association of Australia.
WSAAFacts is the Australian urban water industry's yearbook that provides an authoritative source of performance information. Each publication contains the last six years of performance data on the industry and general discussion of the cost drivers of the industry.

Water UK
Annual Statistics Report
Water Facts for 1997 and 1998
Provides information about the UK water industry.

Relevant Links

Managing Urban Water Supply and Sanitation: Operation And Maintenance
Operations and Evaluations Department, The World Bank

Qualserve
Benchmarking effort of the American Water Works Association

Office of Water Services (OFWAT)
OFWAT is the economic regulator for the water industry in England and Wales. Their web site spells out strategies, lists customer contacts, and gives publication information. This site also contains links lead to British water companies and government agencies.

Public Utility Research Center (PURC)
PURC at the University of Florida in collaboration with the World Bank, has developed a two-week training program for senior- and mid-level utility regulators (electricity, gas, telecommunications, and water) as well as regulatory strategy managers from private infrastructure companies.

The Utility Connection

The Utility Connection provides links to 3,296 electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities, utility associations, organizations, news, magazines, utility financial resources, and related state & federal regulatory and information sites.

Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) Bookshop

This sites provides a comprehensive list of reports which are published under the name of the Urban Water Research Association of Australia, a division of WSAA.