A student intern at Portland Community College (PCC) was given one mission—find savings on the college’s water usage and billing. The result? Mission accomplished and then some.
Eric Brurud’s deep dive into the college’s water billing system is delivering big results for students and taxpayers: $143,000 in ongoing annual savings and $50,000 in one-time credits, after the intern identified billing errors, streamlined accounts and helped PCC qualify for stormwater-related discounts.
While utility rate increases offset some of these gains, the reductions combined with other utility cost controls prevented more than $1 million in additional utility expenses for PCC this fiscal year…