Many communities’ water and sewer rates are rising faster than inflation as utilities invest heavily to upgrade, expand and repair critical infrastructure.
That can pose hardships to lower-income customers, and utilities often compensate by offering what are commonly called customer assistance programs. But how effective are those programs? And how well do utilities and cities perform in signing people up for the help they need?Oliver Morrison, a general assignment reporter at WESA, the National Public Radio affiliate in Pittsburgh, has explored those questions in a series of feature stories. For his efforts, he received a 2024 Media
