An experimental approach to measuring consumer preferences for water charges

Cameron A. Belton, Deirdre A. Robertson and Pete Lunn

Utilities Policy, 2022, vol. 76, issue C

Abstract: Regulators acting on behalf of the public need to understand the interests of the people they represent. This paper describes a collaboration with the OECD and Scotland's water industry to deploy randomised behavioural experiments to investigate preferences for water charges. In a study conducted online (n = 500) and face-to-face (n = 100), participants rated price trajectories for acceptability, where the temporal pattern, presentation, magnitude of increase and provision of aggregated information were experimentally manipulated across presentations and participants. Results showed that households dislike putting off impending price increases. The study demonstrates how behavioural experiments can support more empirically informed regulation.

Keywords: Behavioural economics; Customer engagement; Regulation; Consumer preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D12 D91 L50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juipol:v:76:y:2022:i:c:s0957178722000406

DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2022.101375

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