We’re thrilled to announce that Carol Malesky, principal of financial services at Stantec, is joining us as a speaker during our upcoming webinar. The webinar will examine how Canadian utilities can advance equity and affordability through customer assistance programs and rate designs.

Carol is a utility economist with over 25 years of experience assisting water, wastewater and stormwater utilities with financial analyses. She strives to apply sound economic principles to management and financial consulting challenges for her water and wastewater industry clients.

Katina Tam, senior program advisor at CWN, will moderate the webinar. In her role, Katina leads and implements various initiatives supporting the Canadian Municipal Water Consortium. This includes developing high-quality curated content, like reports and case studies, that can be used by network participants to inform decision-making. Katina also proactively cultivates and nurtures positive relationships with individuals in the water and water-adjacent sectors.

About the webinar

Utilities need to navigate the delicate balance of providing water services to all customers, including those needing bill payment assistance, while also recovering service delivery costs.

Utilities can provide customer assistance programs for customers who need help with their bill payments. When designed effectively, rate structures can also help address the challenges low-income households face.

Join CWN and Stantec for a webinar that will examine the elements of a customer assistance program. The webinar will also examine how rate designs can be effectively applied in communities across Canada, depending on provincial laws and practices relevant to the utility. Carol will examine case studies from the United States as well as potential challenges and opportunities related to implementing similar approaches in a Canadian context.