1. Financial Implications of COVID-19 for Public Water Systems.
- Author
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Price, James I. and Sanchez, Francesca M.
- Subjects
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COVID-19 pandemic , *COVID-19 , *WORKING capital , *WATER use , *OPERATING costs - Abstract
Policy and behavioral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic led to sizeable and abrupt changes in water use. This study investigates the financial implications of these changes for water providers using annual data from public water systems in Wisconsin. Fixed-effects panel regressions were estimated to evaluate how COVID-19 affected water sales, total revenue, operating cost, and the revenue-to-cost ratio. Results indicate that COVID-19 led to increased residential water sales and decreased nonresidential water sales that resulted, on average, in higher revenue, higher costs, and lower net operating income. These effects varied markedly by system size and proportion of residential to total customers, although these differences were not statistically significant. Findings further suggest that large and moderate-sized water providers were relatively resilient to the effects of COVID-19, while small providers (<1,000 customer accounts) experienced the largest declines in net operating income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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