Affordability of household water and sewerage services in Great Britain

John Sawkins and Valerie Dickie

Fiscal Studies, 2005, vol. 26, issue 2, 225-244

Abstract: This paper analyses the problem of water affordability in Great Britain. The use and meaning of the term 'affordability' are discussed in relation to the domestic or household customers of the British water industry. Using microeconomic data from the Family Resources Survey, affordability is calibrated by income group and household composition for Scotland, England and Wales. Whilst measurement or calibration is the primary focus of the paper, the related question of the way in which an affordability threshold or benchmark might be established is considered. A critique of the various financial support mechanisms currently available to households encountering difficulties in paying water and sewerage charges is followed by a discussion of the policy implications of the research and the way in which it relates to the wider social inclusion agenda of central government.

JEL-codes: L95 L98 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:ifs:fistud:v:26:y:2005:i:2:p:225-244

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Fiscal Studies from Institute for Fiscal Studies The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emma Hyman ().