Abstract Despite the strong criticisms by economists of water utility pricing practices and the presence of well articulated theoretical models of efficient pricing alternatives, few empirical studies have documented the magnitude of the efficiency gains from altering water prices. The structures of water supply costs and water demands are estimated using data from Vancouver, Canada. A simulation program uses these estimated relationships to compute the impact upon a representative water utility's output and deficit and upon aggregate consumer surplus of a move from its current practice to efficient prices. Simulation results show that a move to seasonally differentiated pricing (with an annual charge calculated to recoup the resulting deficit) raises aggregate surplus by approximately 4%. This result contrasts with recent water pricing studies that found welfare improvements of approximately 1%.

Evaluating the Welfare Effects of Reforming Municipal Water Prices. Proposed Running Head: Reforming Water Prices

Government in the Republic of Cyprus : responding to the problems of water scarcity and quality

Evaluating the Performance of Alternative Municipal Water Tariff Designs: Quantifying the Tradeoffs between Equity, Economic Efficiency, and Cost Recovery

Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Study, University of British Columbia; PLUS Alliance; Texas AM University; U.S. National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [BCS-17759972]

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/wat2.1486

Arnaud Reynaud

Papers

Assessing the impact of full cost recovery of water services on European households