Seattle Public Utilities has saved about $76 million over the past two years - bringing more than $10 a month in savings for residential ratepayers.

Utilities' "asset management" policies are based on the best practices of the world's best utility companies and are expected to result in hundreds of millions of dollars in efficiencies over the next two decades. Originally developed to help the utilities plan for the replacement of aging infrastructure - pipes, pumps, treatment facilities, etc. - the new policies have evolved into more cost effective delivery of high-quality services to customers.

"Seattle Public Utilities' new management policies have put Seattle at the very top of the nation's utilities, in terms of management of capital assets and delivery of service to customers," said director Chuck Clarke.

"Our world-class management practices regularly result in calls from other cities and utilities around the world to learn about our work - and in several cases they've visited us in person to talk with us in detail about our programs," Clarke said.

Seattle based its asset management program on the experience of the utility companies in Australia and New Zealand. Utilities in these countries are considered the world's best managed. The asset management process requires developing highly sophisticated business cases in advance of funding decisions. As a result of asset management, Seattle's rates are now lower than the 2002 prediction of what they would be this year: the 2005-2006 operations budget was about $16 million lower than it was predicted to be, and capital expenditures are about $60 million lower than predicted.

"We've become a more responsive to the needs of our customers," said Clarke. "Operating based on asset management principles means that we focus on cost effective delivery of services to customers, and that we make decisions based not only on financial implications but also on social and environmental costs and benefits."