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What does “better” mean? Perceptions of electricity and water services in Santo Domingo

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  • Jimenez, Raul
  • Serebrisky, Tomas
  • Mercado, Jorge

Abstract

The quality of electricity and water services in Santo Domingo is among the poorest in Latin American cities, a situation that has prevailed for decades despite the significant welfare losses associated with such infrastructure deficiencies. In this context, how do households perceive these services? What areas of improvement would mean the most to them? This paper takes a consumer-centric approach to addressing these questions, identifying specific attributes of quality and reliability by which households perceptually define what “better” means. Preliminary evidence suggests that, regardless of price, end-user satisfaction and willingness to pay are positively related to service quality.

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  • Jimenez, Raul & Serebrisky, Tomas & Mercado, Jorge, 2016. "What does “better” mean? Perceptions of electricity and water services in Santo Domingo," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 15-21.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:41:y:2016:i:c:p:15-21
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2016.01.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Doo-Chun Kim & Hyo-Jin Kim & Seung-Hoon Yoo, 2018. "Valuing Improved Power Supply Reliability for Manufacturing Firms in South Korea: Results from a Choice Experiment Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Kunaifi & Angèle Reinders, 2018. "Perceived and Reported Reliability of the Electricity Supply at Three Urban Locations in Indonesia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-27, January.
    3. Jimenez Mori, Raul Alberto, 2017. "Are Blackout Days Free of Charge?: Valuation of Individual Preferences for Improved Electricity Services," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8424, Inter-American Development Bank.
    4. Jimenez Mori, Raul, 2021. "It’s not price; It’s quality. Satisfaction and price fairness perception," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Hyo-Jin Kim & Sung-Min Kim & Seung-Hoon Yoo, 2019. "Economic Value of Improving Natural Gas Supply Reliability for Residential Consumers in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-10, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Service quality and reliability; Electricity attributes; Water attributes; Price fairness; Disposition to pay; Willingness to pay;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General

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