| No | INDICATOR | DEFINITION | UNIT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.1 | Unit Operational Cost Water and Wastewater (W&WW) | Total annual operational expenses1/Total annual volume sold. | US$/m3 sold |
| 11.2 | Unit Operational Cost Water and Wastewater | Total annual operational expenses1/Total annual water produced. | US$/m3 produced |
| 11.3 | Unit Operational Cost – Water only | Annual water service operational expenses1/Total annual volume sold. | US$/m3 sold |
| 11.4 | Operational Cost Split – % Water |
Split of the total cost into water and wastewater | % |
| 11.4 | Operational Cost Split – % Wastewater |
% | |
| 11.6 | Unit Operational Cost – Wastewater | Annual wastewater operational expenses1/ Population served | US$/WW pop served |
| 12.2 | Staff W&WW/’000 water and wastewater connections | Total number of staff expressed as per thousand connections | #/’000 W&WW conn |
| 12.1 | Staff Water /’000 Water connections | #/’000 W conn | |
| 12.2 | Staff Wastewater/’000 Wastewater connections | #/’000 WW conn | |
| 12.4 | Staff W&WW/’000 W&WW pop served | Total number of staff expressed as per thousand people served | #/’000 W&WW pop served |
| 12.3 | Staff Water/’000 Water pop served | #/’000 W pop served | |
| 12.6 | Staff Wastewater/’000 Wastewater pop served | #/’000 WW pop served | |
| 12.7 | Staff % Water | % | |
| 12.8 | Staff % Wastewater | ||
| 13.1 | Labor Costs vs Operational Costs | Total annual labor costs (including benefits) expressed as a percentage of total annual operational costs. | % |
| 13.2 | Electrical Energy Costs as percentage of Operational Costs | Annual electrical energy costs expressed as a percentage of total annual operational costs. | % |
| 14.1 | Contracted-out service costs as percentage of operational costs | Total cost of services contracted-out to the private sector expressed as a percentage of total annual operational1costs. | % |
| * | Required Indicator |
Notes
Unit operational costs provide a “bottom line” assessment of the mix of resources used to achieve the outputs required. The preferred denominator related to operational costs is the amount of water sold. This ratio then reflects the cost of providing water at the customer take off point.
Lack of universal metering, lack of accurate household meters, and a focus in the past on water production mean that an alternative measure of operational cost per cubic meter of water produced is also relevant in the short term.
Staff costs are traditionally a major component of operating costs. Understanding staffing levels can often give a quick guide to the extent of any over-manning in a water utility. While it is preferable to be able to allocate staff time to either water or wastewater services, this information is sometimes not available. Comparisons are best made between utilities which offer the same scope of service both in terms of total size, and mix of water and sewer service. Note that where outside contractors are used (see indicator 14.1), staff number comparisons should take this into account.
The number of people served per connection varies from country to country, and from utility to utility, depending on the housing stock and different approaches to service connections. To facilitate international comparisons a denominator of population served has also been included.
The relative importance of staff costs compared to total costs is captured in indicator 13.1. Utilities are often over staffed and this measure provides insights into the impact of possible changes in future staff numbers. Indicator 14.1 quantifies the degree to which outside (private) contractors are used to provide the utility service.
