Affordability

Jersey Water Works cares about adequate and fair revenue to ensure proper operation and maintenance in a cost-effective, equitable manner that treats ratepayers fairly. Jersey Water Works aims to see that programs are authorized and established to ensure affordability and that stormwater utilities and stormwater fees are authorized statewide and widely implemented.

As noted in Assessing the Affordability of Water and Sewer Utility Costs in New Jersey: “Affordability is a topic often discussed but lacking an adequately rigorous definition. Affordability addresses the question of whether a household can afford to pay for specific necessities (i.e., fixed costs that are not discretionary without substantial loss of quality of life), not whether it is willing to pay. Public policy addresses issues of household affordability regarding housing, energy, medical care, food, education and many other purposes, including the focus of this report on water and sewer utilities. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and others have recognized that thorough understanding of affordability must incorporate consideration of all necessary (i.e., non-discretionary) household costs. The problem is that affordability for any single cost category is inseparable from all other cost categories. Affordability in a correct sense involves a comparison of household income (including aid) to the costs of all necessary expenditures, including long-term costs such as retirement and unanticipated expenditures such as medical emergencies.”