 The Economics of Equity and Affordability in Residential Water PricingWater Economics and Policy (WEP), 2025, vol. 11, issue 02, 1-29 Abstract: In this review, I explore the economic dimensions of equity and affordability in urban residential water pricing. I summarize the growing literature on water affordability and discuss its relationship to more common studies of distributional issues in water demand. I also explore how utilities use various rate structures, such as increasing block rates, to address affordability concerns, emphasizing empirical evidence on the ineffectiveness of these rate structures in achieving equity goals. Moreover, I discuss the design of customer assistance programs in alleviating burdens on low-income households and summarize the scant evidence of the effectiveness of these programs. Ultimately, I highlight the need for more empirical evaluations of equity-focused programs and a greater focus on the distributional consequences of water management strategies to ensure equitable access to this essential resource. Keywords: Water; distributional effects; equity; affordability (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:wepxxx:v:11:y:2025:i:02:n:s2382624x25300026 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1142/S2382624X25300026 Access Statistics for this article Water Economics and Policy (WEP) is currently edited by Ariel Dinar More articles in Water Economics and Policy (WEP) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. |
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