We all knew this news was coming: Weather, water conservation spell revenue troubles for Lincoln Water System. You know the drill, a cool summer has led to lower water usage, which means less revenue for LWS, which means budget problems. A similar story is no doubt brewing over at LES.
I wish these sorts of stories would include some actual analysis of why lower utility usage is a problem. As they are usually framed -- and as is the case here -- these stories invite mockery. Cynical types might even suggest that local media run these stories the way they do precisely because of the mockery. Personally, I would like to know what fixed costs a utility has to deal with. How much of their budget is flexible and how much is static? Are there things a utility can do to ease the pain of a low-usage year?
To be fair, Algis J. Laukaitis's article does mention that certain aspects of LWS's rate structure may play a role in the budget woes. That's a start.
Have you noticed your household using significantly less water this year? If so, was it because of a conscious decision to do so, or did other factors (e.g. the weather) play a role?
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I thought the same exact thing when the LJS had the article about LES revenues being down. Isn’t that actually a good thing? Doesn’t it mean that in addition to the weather being cooler, perhaps people are conserving? They push us to insulate and take their tax credits and to change light bulbs, then are amazed when people use less electricity.
LWS and the city ask us to water our yards less, sweep the driveway instead of hosing it down, use rain barrels - and they seem amazed that usage is down. Not just amazed, but as if now the lost revenue will cause us all problems. You can’t really have it both ways.
It almost seems like efforts to conserve are a wasted effort, because if you can somehow drop your electric or water bill by using less, they will zing you for more dollars by making the rates higher because you’ve used less. Huh?
What’s next? The plight of the garbage collectors since so much more stuff is being recycled?
I don’t have any research - just articles I’ve read online - but I think it’d be very cool if Lincoln looked into municipal rainwater harvesting.
(The barrels at the park don’t count!)
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