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.