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

Raul Jimenez Mori, Tomas Serebrisky and Jorge Mercado

Utilities Policy, 2016, vol. 41, issue C, 15-21

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.

Keywords: Service quality and reliability; Electricity attributes; Water attributes; Price fairness; Disposition to pay; Willingness to pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 Q25 Q40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juipol:v:41:y:2016:i:c:p:15-21

DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2016.01.005

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