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Efficiency Assessment of Water and Sewerage Companies: a Disaggregated Approach Accounting for Service Quality

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  • María Molinos-Senante

    (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
    Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
    Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable CONICYT/FONDAP/15110020)

  • Manuel Mocholi-Arce

    (Universidad de Valencia)

  • Ramón Sala-Garrido

    (Universidad de Valencia)

Abstract

This paper evaluates the efficiency of water and sewerage companies (WaSCs) by applying the weighted Russell directional distance model. This is a non-radial data envelopment analysis (DEA) model that allowed us to obtain an individual efficiency score for each input and output considered in the assessment. This study provides a pioneering approach to evaluating the efficiency of WaSCs, since previous studies on this topic were based on radial DEA models that only provide a global efficiency score. Moreover, three variables representing the lack of service quality were introduced into the model as undesirable outputs. An empirical application was carried out for the 25 largest Chilean WaSCs for 2013. The results illustrated that around one-third of the WaSCs in Chile are totally efficient. The inefficiency scores for each variable evidenced that one of the main challenges of the water industry in Chile is to reduce the percentage of unbilled water and that this issue is especially marked for medium WaSCs. As part of the second-stage analysis, some differences in performance between private and concessionary WaSCs were found, although the results were inconclusive. Several policy implications to help water companies’ managers and water regulators make informed decisions were drawn from our empirical analysis.

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  • María Molinos-Senante & Manuel Mocholi-Arce & Ramón Sala-Garrido, 2016. "Efficiency Assessment of Water and Sewerage Companies: a Disaggregated Approach Accounting for Service Quality," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(12), pages 4311-4328, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:30:y:2016:i:12:d:10.1007_s11269-016-1422-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-016-1422-7
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    7. Goh, Kim Huat & See, Kok Fong, 2021. "Measuring the productivity growth of Malaysia's water sector: Implications for regulatory reform," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    8. Tourinho, Marco & Santos, Paulo Rosa & Pinto, Francisco Taveira & Camanho, Ana S., 2022. "Performance assessment of water services in Brazilian municipalities: An integrated view of efficiency and access," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Jaime Sánchez-Ortiz & Teresa García-Valderrama & Vanessa Rodríguez-Cornejo & Yolanda Giner-Manso, 2020. "The effects of environmental regulation on the efficiency of distribution electricity companies in Spain," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(1), pages 3-20, February.
    10. José Antonio Palomero-González & Vicent Almenar-Llongo & Ramón Fuentes-Pascual, 2021. "Evaluating the Efficiency of Water Distribution Network Sectors Using the DEA-Weight Russell Directional Distance Model: The Case of the City of Valencia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-21, September.
    11. Alexandr Akimov & Paul Simshauser, 2018. "Performance measurement in Australian water utilities: Current state and future directions," Discussion Papers in Finance finance:201802, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.

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