Raftelis (Formerly Raftelis Financial Consultants)
Christopher P.N. Woodcock, President
Qualifications
Mr. Woodcock has been involved in more than 500 municipal and private water and wastewater rate, financial, and management studies. He is a frequent speaker on various rate design topics, has been the project manager on numerous rate studies, has conducted management and operations studies for utilities, has been involved with the preparation of engineering reports supporting utility revenue bond issues, and has developed computer models to aid agencies in their strategic planning, rate, and capital improvement program decisions.
Experience
Mr. Woodcock has participated in some 300 cost of service and water rate determination studies for both public and investor owned water utilities. He has prepared water rate studies for municipal water departments across North America including the cities of Bangor, Brewer, and Waterville, Maine; Lebanon, Salem, Portsmouth, Concord and Manchester, New Hampshire; Boston, Cambridge, Leominster and Springfield, Massachusetts; Waterbury, New Haven, and New London, Connecticut; Detroit, MI; Westminster and Denver, Colorado; the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; the San Diego County Water Authority, Woonsocket, Providence, Pawtucket and Warwick, Rhode Island; and Baltimore, MD. He has prepared exhibits and expert testimony in conjunction with water rate cases before the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control; the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission; the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission; the Maine Public Utilities Commission; the New York Public Service Commission; the Maryland Public Service Commission; and the Alberta (Canada) Public Utilities Board. Much of Mr. Woodcock's work on water rates has involved the analysis and development of new rate structures that meet specific needs of individual utilities. Included in these studies have been a number of innovative rate structures including summer surcharges, various conservation rate alternatives, increasing block rates, ratchet rates, life-line rates, as well as the more involved development of capacity or demand charges. Mr. Woodcock has also been involved in several overseas assignments including rate and tariff related studies in South Africa, Albania, Bulgaria, Russia, Thailand, Jamaica and Egypt.
Mr. Woodcock has worked on nearly 200 wastewater user fee studies for cities, towns and municipal agencies throughout the country. Included have been studies for large regional agencies and multi-jurisdictional suppliers such as the Boston Water and Sewer Commission; the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department; the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority; Fort Worth, Texas; Washington DC; and Denver, Colorado. These studies have included allocations of operating and
capital expenses to wholesale and retail customers, the preparation and analysis of inter-municipal service agreements and reviews of other rate proposals. He has prepared wastewater user charge studies for cities, towns and authorities ranging in size from several hundred customers to millions of customers. Included in these studies were analyses of various capital cost recovery techniques including connection charges, betterment assessments, and the use of tax revenues; innovative rates including increasing block sewer rates; analyses of the impacts on various users and/or customer classes; development of stormwater utility charges; the development of computer rate models; and the preparation of sewer use and rate ordinances.Mr. Woodcock has also worked on several stormwater utility rate and financial studies during his career. These have included analyses for the City & County of Denver, Wichita KS, and the Boston Water & Sewer Commission.
Mr. Woodcock is the former Chairman and the longest standing member of AWWA's Rates and Charges Committee. He has worked on all of AWWA's rates related manuals of practice, including several editions of the Principles of Water Rates, Fees and Charges (M1), the Alternative Rates Manual (M34), Water Rates and Related Charges (M26), the Revenue Requirements Manual (M35), and the Developing Rates for Small Systems Manual (M54) -- several of which he was a principal author and a member of the editorial committee. He is a frequent presenter of papers on rates related issues before national and regional audiences, including AWWA's Annual Conferences. Mr. Woodcock also serves on the WEF Committee that prepares the WEF manual Financing and Charges for Wastewater Systems and the WEF Committee that prepared the User-Fee-Funded Stormwater Programs manual.
Mr. Woodcock has overseen and conducted a number of operations and management audits of water, wastewater, and public works agencies; and has prepared expense, revenue and rate projection documents in support of municipal revenue bond issues. He has also developed a number of computer financial models to assist water and sewer authorities with rate and financial projections.
Education
- B.S. - Civil Engineering, Tufts University, 1974
- B.A. - Economics, Tufts University, 1974
Registration
Engineer-in-Training: Massachusetts
Associations and Committees
(Rates and Charges Committee (past Chair), Financial Management Committee (past Chair), Reviewer for AWWA Journal)Click here to download Mr. Woodcock's resume.
Link to Chris Woodcock's Publications and Presentations