Elements to Be Considered in Fixing Water Rates

• Date: 01 May 1914
• Author: George W. Fuller
• Published date: 01 May 1914
• DOI: 10.1177/000271621405300123
• Subject Matter: Articles

251

ELEMENTS

TO

BE

CONSIDERED

IN

FIXING

WATER

RATES

BY

GEORGE

W.

FULLER,

Consulting

Hydraulic

Engineer,

New

York

City.

The

modem

cry

for

what

has

been

happily

termed

the &dquo;square

deal&dquo;

is

exercising

a

material

influence

on

the

management

and

oper-

ation

of

public

utilities,

particularly

in

their

relation

to

the

public.

It

is

considered

essential

that

all

service

rendered

by

a

public

utility

shall

be

paid

for

by

the

recipient

of

this

service,

and

that

the

payment

for

this

service

shall

be

proportioned

to

its

cost

to

the

public

utility,

so

that

no

one

consumer,

large

or

small,

shall

receive

special

favors

and

benefit

by

rates

lower

than

is

fair,

or

suffer

from

rates

higher

than

is

fair.

The

basic

principle

of

all

rate

making

for

public

utili-

ties

is

that

a

fair

rate

of

profit

shall

be

assured

to

the

public

service

corporation,

and

that

this

profit

shall

be

made

up

of

a

correspond-

ingly

uniform

rate

of

profit

on

all

portions

of

the

service

rendered.

Wholesale

rates

or

quantity

discounts

are

to

be

justified

only

in

so

far

as

they

are

based

upon

a

lesser

cost

of

service

under

such

conditions.

The

public

water

supply

company,

which

is

probably

the

most

important

of

all

such

public

utilities,

one

which

comes

into

most

intimate

contact

with

individual

consumers,

and

whose

proper

man-

agement

and

fair

dealing

comes

quickest

home

to

the

health

and

welfare

of

the

individual,

must

make

its

rate

to

its

customers

on

this

basic

idea.

Confusing

Conditions

The

cost

of

service

and

rates

to

be

charged

for

water

supply

has

in

the

past

usually

been,

and

still

is,

seriously

confused

by

the

special

conditions

attending

this

service.

Some

of

the

supplies

are

operated

by

the

public

themselves

through

their

municipal

govern-

ment ;

others

are

operated

by

private

companies

for

their

individual

profit;

still

a

third

class

by

a

combined

system

in

which

the

manage-

ment

of

a

private

company

is

to

some

extent

controlled

by

the

public

administration.

Again,

of

the

public

water

supplies,

some

are

operated

practically

at

cost,

with

the

idea

that

the

furnishing

of