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What is User Charge Analysis?

A complete rate or user charge analysis does at least these things:

1. It considers the desires and needs of the community's leaders and the operators of the system,
2. It considers customers' volume usage, current rates, revenues, operating costs, repair and replacement schedule and costs, imminent capital improvement costs and how they will be funded, various reserve levels and where you desire them to be, and other financial criteria,
3. It considers when rates were last adjusted and how often you intend to adjust rates in the future,
4. It considers how best to adjust rates now (probably), and over the long-haul of perhaps 10 years (definitely), and very importantly,
5. It considers how best to "sell" a rate adjustment to the ratepayers.

Rate analysis is a large mathematical word problem with more than one correct answer. The answer that you, your operators, customers and others come to all depends on what you collectively want.

How to Get a Rate Study
You have three basic acquisition approach options; closed (often called sole-sourcing), value-based (usually the best option) or process oriented (which you may be required by ordinance or policy to use). See Chapter 14 - How to get a Great Rate Analyst, of the book "How to get Great Rates" for guidance on each of these approaches.