The first annual check-in meeting of the Advancing Levels of Service in the Context of Uncertainty Strategic Sharing Group (SSG) was held on January 24, 2023. In this meeting, participants discussed progress made in the past year to advance levels of service (LoS) within their organizations, as well as ongoing challenges and lessons learned.
The following key insights emerged from the meeting:
- Organizations are undergoing restructuring with the purpose of applying a systems thinking approach and objective of becoming more functionally aligned across departments. Others are integrating customer LoS and asset management frameworks into corporate-wide or business plans that include definitions of customer and technical LoS measures for assets, to ensure a consistent and coordinated approach within the entire corporation.
- Most municipalities are tracking and compiling data, though some of the greatest challenges are in navigating data complexity and establishing a data governance framework. A common barrier to effectively using data to inform decision-making is the siloed approach to data collection.
- Customer affordability and equity challenges are increasing pressures on utility rates. Internally, financial constraints are impacting utilities’ capacity to catch up on infrastructure renewal.
The terms of participation, primer, agenda, meeting capture and additional meeting resources are now available on the Levels of Service SSG webpage. Please treat these Strategic Sharing Group documents as confidential and use discretion when sharing with others in your organization.
For more information about the annual check-in, contact Katina Tam, senior program advisor at CWN, at [email protected]