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Is the price of water for residential use related to provider ownership? Empirical evidence from Spain

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  • García-Valiñas, María de los Ángeles
  • González-Gómez, Francisco
  • Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J.

Abstract

This paper assesses the relationship between provider ownership and the price of water for residential use set by 386 Southern Spanish municipalities. Our main contribution to the previous literature is that we go much further than merely distinguishing between private and public ownership. First, we find that prices are lower when the urban water service is directly provided by town councils. Second, when water services are contracted out to external companies, the prices set by public utilities are higher than the prices of private utilities due to larger fixed quotas. Finally, water prices are also higher when the provision of the service has been privatised to an institutionalised public-private partnership compared to contractual public-private partnerships.

Suggested Citation

  • García-Valiñas, María de los Ángeles & González-Gómez, Francisco & Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J., 2013. "Is the price of water for residential use related to provider ownership? Empirical evidence from Spain," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 59-69.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:24:y:2013:i:c:p:59-69
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2012.07.009
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    Cited by:

    1. Porcher, Simon, 2017. "The ‘hidden costs’ of water provision: New evidence from the relationship between contracting-out and price in French water public services," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 166-175.
    2. Alberto Cavaliere & Mario Maggi & Francesca Stroffolini, 2015. "A Normative Analysis of Local Public Utilities: Investments in Water Networks," IEFE Working Papers 80, IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    3. García-Valiñas, Maria A. & Gonzales, Francisco & Suarez, Javier & Zaporozhets, Vera, 2015. "Private Sector Involvement in Water Services: Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Evidence," TSE Working Papers 15-590, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    4. Ruiz-Villaverde, Alberto & González-Gómez, Francisco & J. Picazo- Tadeo, Andrés, 2015. "The privatisation of urban water services: theory and empirical evidence in the case of Spain," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 31, pages 157-174.
    5. Fu, Guanlong & Liu, Pengfei & Swallow, Stephen K., 2020. "Effectiveness of Public versus Private Ownership: Violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(2), pages 291-320, August.
    6. Ruiz-Villaverde, Alberto & Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J. & González-Gómez, Francisco, 2015. "The ‘social choice’ of privatising urban water services: A case study of Madrid in Spain," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 616-629.
    7. Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo & Francisco González-Gómez & Marta Suárez-Varela, 2020. "Electoral opportunism and water pricing with incomplete transfer of control rights," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 1015-1038, November.
    8. Li, Li, 2018. "Private sector participation and performance of county water utilities in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 30-53.
    9. González-Gómez, Francisco & García-Rubio, Miguel A. & González-Martínez, Jesús, 2014. "Beyond the public–private controversy in urban water management in Spain," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-9.
    10. López-Ruiz, Samara & Tortajada, Cecilia & González-Gómez, Francisco, 2020. "Is the human right to water sufficiently protected in Spain? Affordability and governance concerns," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    11. Suárez-Varela, Marta & Martínez-Espiñeira, Roberto & González-Gómez, Francisco, 2015. "An analysis of the price escalation of non-linear water tariffs for domestic uses in Spain," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 82-93.
    12. Alberto Cavaliere & Mario Maggi & Francesca Stroffolini, 2015. "Investments in Water Networks: A Normative Analysis of Local Public Utilities," DEM Working Papers Series 098, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    13. Mónica Maldonado-Devis & Vicent Almenar-Llongo, 2021. "A Panel Data Estimation of Domestic Water Demand with IRT Tariff Structure: The Case of the City of Valencia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-26, January.
    14. Egüez, Alejandro, 2021. "District heating network ownership and prices: The case of an unregulated natural monopoly," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. Pinto, Francisco Silva & Marques, Rui Cuhna, 2015. "Tariff recommendations: A Panacea for the Portuguese water sector?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 36-44.
    16. Zhang, Xue & Rivas, Marcela Gonzalez & Grant, Mary & Warner, Mildred E., 2021. "Water Pricing and Affordability in the US: Public vs Private Ownership," SocArXiv 7mc4r, Center for Open Science.
    17. Grafton, R. Quentin & Chu, Long & Kompas, Tom, 2015. "Optimal water tariffs and supply augmentation for cost-of-service regulated water utilities," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 54-62.
    18. Moore, Mark A. & Boardman, Anthony E. & Vining, Aidan R., 2017. "Analyzing risk in PPP provision of utility services: A social welfare perspective," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 210-218.
    19. Barbosa, Alexandro & Brusca, Isabel, 2015. "Governance structures and their impact on tariff levels of Brazilian water and sanitation corporations," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 94-105.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ownership; Residential water use; Sample selection models; Water industry; Water pricing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities

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