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The Impact of Price and Information on Water Consumption

价格和信息对用水量的影响

基本信息

批准号：
ES/K01210X/1
负责人：
Carmine Ornaghi
金额：
$ 34.99万
依托单位：
University of Southampton
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2013
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2013 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FK01210X%2F1
关键词：
Impact Price Information Water Consumption

项目摘要

The South East of England has been classed by the Environmental Agency as an area of severe water stress. Population growth will continue to increase the demand for water and on-going climate changes mean that residents will have to deal with drier summers and more frequent droughts. At the end of 2010 Southern Water, the utility responsible for supplying water in Hampshire, Sussex and Kent, started a five-year program, known as Universal Metering Program (UMP), to install half a million new water meters in the South East. By the end of 2015, ninety-two per cent of the households in this region will be metered, compared to the current rate of about forty per cent. The aim of this project is to produce a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the UMP on water consumption. In particular, this project will investigate the behavioural response of households to the introduction of metered charges and to the information campaigns (run by Southern Water while implementing the UMP) raising awareness about the ecological impact of water consumption and suggesting simple ways to cut the water bill. Thanks to an agreement with Southern Water, we will have access to an unique dataset containing household level information on water consumption, together with detailed information about the implementation of the UMP. We will then exploit specific features of the UMP to produce, by using program evaluation techniques, fresh and sound empirical evidence on whether pricing and information campaigns have a significant and long-lasting impact on water consumption. In order to produce a comprehensive analysis of the most effective strategies to contain water consumption, we will also investigate the behavioural response of households to "colour-coded" bills comparing customers' water consumption to the average consumption in their neighbourhood.More specifically, to investigate the impact of metered charges, we will exploit the fact that for some households (approximately 35,000) information on water consumption is available before they start paying metered charges. These households have had a meter installed for technical reasons, but are not aware of this and continue paying a fixed fee (i.e unmetered charges). To investigate the impact of information campaigns, we will exploit the fact that Southern Water is running, in conjunction with the UMP, very localized (street-level) campaigns over a five-year period providing information about the ecological impact of water usage. As these campaigns also affect already metered households, who do not experience any change in terms of pricing, we will be able to isolate the impact of information.Finally, we will exploit the fact that the colour-code changes discontinuously with consumption and, by using a regression discontinuity approach, will be able to identify the causal impact of peer comparison on water usage. Furthermore, the introduction of an uniform pricing schedule (for the period 2012/2013, there is a flat cost of £3.058 per cubic meter of fresh-water/waste-water) may negatively affect equity in water consumption. Given that more affluent households tend to use more water, water utilities in USA and Australia frequently use increasing block rate pricing (where the cost per unit increases when consumption reaches certain thresholds) with the dual objective of achieving some reduction in total water use and improving equity among customers. In our analysis we will be able to differentiate the impact of the UMP on water use according to household affluence. We will then be able to discuss how the uniform pricing schedule is affecting equity.

英格兰东南部已被环境局列为严重缺水地区。人口增长将继续增加对水的需求，持续的气候变化意味着居民将不得不应对更干燥的夏季和更频繁的干旱。2010年底，负责汉普郡、苏塞克斯和肯特郡供水的公用事业公司南方水务公司启动了一项名为“通用计量计划”（UMP）的五年计划，在东南部安装50万个新水表。到2015年底，该地区92%的家庭将使用水表，而目前的比例约为40%。该项目的目的是对非常规水政策对水消耗的影响进行全面分析。特别是，该项目将调查家庭对引入计量收费和信息运动（由南方水务公司在实施UMP时开展）的行为反应，提高人们对用水对生态影响的认识，并提出减少水费的简单方法。由于与南方水务公司达成了协议，我们将获得一个独特的数据集，其中包含家庭用水信息，以及有关UMP实施的详细信息。然后，我们将利用非常规政策的具体特征，通过使用项目评估技术，就定价和信息宣传活动是否对水资源消耗产生重大而持久的影响，得出新鲜而可靠的经验证据。为了全面分析控制耗水量的最有效策略，我们亦会调查住户对以颜色标示的帐单的行为反应，以比较客户的耗水量与邻近地区的平均耗水量。更具体地说，为了调查水表收费的影响，我们将利用这样一个事实，即对于一些家庭（大约35,000个），在他们开始支付水表收费之前，他们就可以获得用水量的信息。这些家庭由于技术原因安装了电表，但没有意识到这一点，继续支付固定费用（即未计量费用）。为了调查信息运动的影响，我们将利用这样一个事实，即南方水务公司正在与UMP一起开展非常本地化（街道级）的运动，为期五年，提供有关用水对生态影响的信息。由于这些活动也影响到已经计量的家庭，他们在价格方面没有任何变化，我们将能够隔离信息的影响。最后，我们将利用颜色代码随消费不连续变化的事实，并通过使用回归不连续方法，将能够确定同行比较对用水的因果影响。此外，采用统一的定价表（2012/2013年期间，淡水/废水的固定成本为每立方米3.058英镑）可能会对用水的公平性产生负面影响。考虑到更富裕的家庭往往使用更多的水，美国和澳大利亚的水务公司经常使用增加的整体费率定价（当消耗达到一定阈值时，单位成本增加），以实现减少总用水量和改善客户之间的公平的双重目标。在我们的分析中，我们将能够根据家庭富裕程度区分非常规货币政策对用水的影响。然后，我们将能够讨论统一定价计划如何影响股权。