Assessing willingness to pay for urban water, wastewater, gas and electricity delivery service standards

公用事业行业是澳大利亚经济的重要组成部分(占GDP的2.2%)，支撑着国家生产。最近的基础设施故障每周造成高达2亿美元的损失，这些故障在很大程度上被归咎于监管方法，这些方法强调公用事业服务提供的最低价格和成本解决方案，而没有任何评估或考虑为服务质量付费的意愿，以及人们对供应保证的重视。需要研究WTP的服务标准在调节价格和服务质量方面的作用，以防止未来的基础设施故障。这项研究将通过改善监管和更好地确定基础设施投资的目标，为澳大利亚带来可观的经济效益。

The utility industry is a substantial component of the Australian economy (2.2 % of GDP), underpinning national production. Recent infrastructure failures, costing up to $200 million per week, have been blamed largely on regulatory approaches that emphasise minimum price and cost solutions to utility service provision without any assessment or consideration of the willingness to pay for service quality and the value people place on surety of supply. Research on the role of WTP for service standards in regulating price and service quality is required to prevent future infrastructure failures. This research will provide substantial economic benefits to Australia through improved regulation and better targeting of infrastructure investment.