OCWRC – Residential Equivalent Unit (REU) Study, Oakland County
OCWRC commissioned DLZ to evaluate billing data for water consumption throughout the Oakland County. The study aimed to quantify current usage-based Residential Equivalent Units (REU) and update the business classes and REU unit factors outlined in the 1998 Schedule of Unit Assignment Factors. The study was broken down into two phases:
Phase I
To begin with, this phase evaluated the consumption data to define the characteristics of the baseline Single Family Residential usage. Further, the study verified direct correlations between the increase in
- Water rates and decrease in water consumption
- People per household and increase in water consumption
- Home value and increase in water use
- Household income and increase in water use.
Phase II
Subsequently, this phase evaluated business classes and data to make recommendations for updates to the schedule for various usages within the County. DLZ collected additional service use data to calculate non-residential REU factors for business category criteria.
The study also includes the development of an easy-to-use computer application to aid in calculating various business class REUs, instead of using the existing paper-based methodology. It also provides users with ranked, correlated business service use statistics to determine the strongest correlated water usage and business service unit to calculate a business class’ REU value.
Finally, the OCWRC adopted the ‘new’ schedule and uses it for billing and capital charges. DLZ’s Water Division is eager to help your community identify solutions and improve operations.
