CHAPTER IX 



COMPARISON OF SERVICE CHARGE, MINIMUM RATE, 

 THE UNIFORM RATE, AND THE COMMITTEE'S 

 ALTERNATE PROCEDURE BY MEANS OF AN EX- 

 AMPLE 



This comparison is made in both tabular form and graph- 

 ically. The tabular form will perhaps bring out the funda- 

 mental differences in the rates more clearly than could be done 

 by any amount of discussion. 



In that which follows only domestic services as defined by 

 the Committee on Meter Rates, that is to say, services taking 

 less than 820 gallons of water per day, are considered. To 

 make the computation, twenty rates of draft are assumed to 

 represent the whole range of quantities taken by such domestic 

 consumers. 



In selecting the twenty representative rates of draft the 

 statistics of the Committee on Water Rates were used as a basis 

 and a graphical plotting was used. Each quantity is selected 

 to represent five per cent of the whole number of domestic takers. 

 The quantities ascertained in this way probably represent nearly 

 ordinary practice, although precision is not to be expected. The 

 average daily quantity for all twenty is 152 gallons per service. 



For these twenty rates of draft the annual bills are calculated 

 by each of. the methods that is to be compared. The first 

 comparison is made with a service charge of $5 and a further 

 charge of 20 cents per 1000 gallons for all water drawn. Applying 

 this to each of the twenty quantities, it is found that the total 

 computed collections would amount to $321.46, or $16.07 P er 

 service. The amount of collections per service is normal for a 

 representative water works plant. 



In the next place the uniform meter rate is calculated that 

 would produce exactly the same revenue. The rate is ascer- 



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