Estimating residential water demand in the absence of volumetric water pricing

Eric E. Houk

Global Business and Economics Review, 2010, vol. 12, issue 3, 196-202

Abstract: Rapid population growth has significantly increased the magnitude of water shortages in California. Although water shortages already exist, some of the state's utility systems are still not providing their residents with financial incentives for water conservation. Instead of using water meters to charge households according to their actual water usage, they are charging a flat fee for unlimited water service. When flat fees are charged for unlimited water service, the per-unit cost for additional water is zero and the decision to consume more water is determined by other factors. This study estimates the factors that influence residential water demand in a city that is currently charging flat fees for unlimited water service. The results indicate that the number of home occupants and the square footage of grass landscaping significantly affect water usage and the relationships between these variables are quantified.

Keywords: economics; residential water demand; water meters; water price; volumetric water pricing; California; water shortages; financial incentives; water conservation; water usage; flat fees; unlimited water service; USA; United States. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=34893 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:gbusec:v:12:y:2010:i:3:p:196-202

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Global Business and Economics Review from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().