CHAPTER XVIII 



FIXING METER RATES FOR A SYSTEM NOT YET 

 METERED 



Frequently a utility was saddled with rates made for the purpose of 

 securing customers or favorable influence, or under pressure of various 

 kinds. Thos. W. D. Worthen, N.E.W.W. Assn. Jour., Vol. XXXI, p. 

 168, 1917. 



In the two cases given above, the meter system was already 

 well established and the necessary underlying data to make the 

 calculation of the financial effect of a new schedule was avail- 

 able. In these cases it was simply a matter of computation to 

 a find what rates in the new schedule are required to produce 

 the identical revenue that is now received, and obviously it is 

 equally easy to see what change in those rates would be required 

 to produce any desired increase or decrease in that revenue. 



In many cases it is necessary to establish a system of meter 

 rates for a system that either is not metered or is but incom- 

 pletely metered. The underlying data are not at hand to make 

 a close calculation. The desired or necessary amount of rev- 

 enue is known, but the problem of finding what revenue any 

 given set of rates will produce can be solved only by actual trial. 



This case is a very common one, and obviously it presents 

 a more difficult problem. The best that can be done is to study 

 the statistics of completely metered systems as comparable 

 as may be with the system in question and to apply the results, 

 but to supplement this study by any local data that may be 

 available, especially by data in reference to the probable con- 

 sumptions of water by the larger takers, and on the basis of 

 these estimates find the rates that are necessary to produce the 

 required revenue. 



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