AWWA JAW56597

As water rates increase, in many cases faster than the public's ability to pay, greater numbers of water utility customers may experience difficulty paying their water bills, even for basic levels of service. Fortunately, there are many ways that utility managers can address affordability issues, including assistance programs that benefit both customers and the water utility. This paper discusses the experiences of the City of Portland, Oregon, which for more than 15 years has been involved in helping its low-income customers pay their bills on time and avoid shutoffs. The city built on the findings in prior literature to identify the many options - for example, low-income bill discounts, a crisis assistance program, a fixture repair program, budget billing, and payment extensions - that are available to make water service more affordable. Utility managers have a variety of solutions available, depending on their particular community's needs and customer base. The objective of this paper is to foster an increased awareness of the issue of affordability, including both the benefits and obstacles of providing bill assistance for lowincome people, and that more utilities may implement new programs or enhance existing ones. Considerable long-term efforts may be required to make such programs effective; however, as this paper shows, success can be achieved if these efforts are focused and have the proper planning and direction. Includes 6 references, tables, figures.