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Simulating the Impact of Pricing Policies on Residential Water Demand: A Southern France Case Study

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  • Jean-Daniel Rinaudo
  • Noémie Neverre
  • Marielle Montginoul

Abstract

The case study conducted in this paper looks at residential water pricing from three different points of view. It first describes existing urban water-pricing practices in Southern France, emphasizing that pricing is not yet being used as a tool for providing economic incentives to save water. It then looks at the observed impact of pricing on water consumption, through an econometric analysis of a cross-sectional data set. The analysis suggests that demand, with an estimated price elasticity of −0.2, is not yet very responsive to price variation. A regional water model (300 municipalities) is then developed and used to simulate the potential impact of various water-pricing scenarios on aggregate water demand, aggregate water sales revenue, and consumer surpluses. The results illustrate the trade-offs that have to be made between the search for environmental effectiveness, cost recovery, and equity when implementing complex water-pricing structures such as block rates or seasonal water pricing. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Noémie Neverre & Marielle Montginoul, 2012. "Simulating the Impact of Pricing Policies on Residential Water Demand: A Southern France Case Study," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(7), pages 2057-2068, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:26:y:2012:i:7:p:2057-2068
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-012-9998-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Wenyi Du & Yubing Fan & Xiaowo Tang, 2016. "Two-part pricing contracts under competition: the South-to-North Water Transfer Project supply chain system in China," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 895-911, November.
    3. Keivan Karimlou & Nemat Hassani & Abdollah Rashidi Mehrabadi & Mohammad Reza Nazari, 2019. "Calculating Price Elasticity of Water Demand Using Gene Expression Programming Based on Economic, Social and Meteorological Variables," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(12), pages 4171-4188, September.
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    6. Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Bernard Barraqué, 2015. "Inter-basin transfers as a supply option: the end of an era?," Post-Print hal-01290509, HAL.
    7. Corentin Girard & Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Manuel Pulido-Velazquez & Yvan Caballero, 2015. "An interdisciplinary modelling framework for selecting adaptation measures at the river basin scale in a global change scenario," Post-Print hal-01183833, HAL.
    8. Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Bernard Barraqué, 2015. "Inter-basin transfers as a supply option: the end of an era?," Post-Print hal-01183852, HAL.
    9. Fuente, David & Kabubo-Mariara, Jane & Kimuyu, Peter & Mwaura, Mbutu & Whittington, Dale, 2017. "Assessing the Performance of Alternative Water and Sanitation Tariffs: The Case of Nairobi, Kenya," EfD Discussion Paper 17-21, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    10. Jana Hortová & Ladislav Kristoufek, 2014. "Price elasticity of household water demand in the Czech Republic," Working Papers IES 2014/38, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Dec 2014.
    11. Edward Gage & David Cooper, 2015. "The Influence of Land Cover, Vertical Structure, and Socioeconomic Factors on Outdoor Water Use in a Western US City," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(10), pages 3877-3890, August.
    12. María Ángeles García-Valiñas & Sara Suárez-Fernández, 2022. "Are Economic Tools Useful to Manage Residential Water Demand? A Review of Old Issues and Emerging Topics," Post-Print hal-04067487, HAL.
    13. R. Quentin Grafton, 2017. "Responding to the ‘Wicked Problem’ of Water Insecurity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3023-3041, August.
    14. Xunzhou Ma & Shiqiu Zhang & Quan Mu, 2014. "How Do Residents Respond to Price under Increasing Block Tariffs? Evidence from Experiments in Urban Residential Water Demand in Beijing," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(14), pages 4895-4909, November.
    15. An, Yunfei & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Qunwei & Shi, Xunpeng & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2022. "Mitigating size bias for carbon pricing in small Asia-Pacific countries: Increasing block carbon tax," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    16. Negin Ashoori & David A. Dzombak & Mitchell J. Small, 2016. "Modeling the Effects of Conservation, Demographics, Price, and Climate on Urban Water Demand in Los Angeles, California," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(14), pages 5247-5262, November.
    17. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie & Tai-Hsin Huang, 2017. "Residential water demand and water waste in Taiwan," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(2), pages 249-268, April.
    18. 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.
    19. Fuente, David, 2019. "The design and evaluation of water tariffs: A systematic review," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    20. Roberto Balado-Naves & Marian Garcia-Valiñas & David Roibas, 2023. "Efficiency, perceived prices, and household water demand: A stochastic frontier analysis for the Spanish city of Gijón," Efficiency Series Papers 2023/01, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    21. Zhisong Chen & Huimin Wang & Xiangtong Qi, 2013. "Pricing and Water Resource Allocation Scheme for the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(5), pages 1457-1472, March.
    22. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie, 2013. "Residential Water Use: Efficiency, Affordability, and Price Elasticity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 275-291, January.

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