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An Institutional Economics Perspective: The Impact of Water Provider Privatisation on Water Conservation in England and Australia

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  • Greg Barrett
  • Margaret Wallace

Abstract

In the context of the world-wide trend towards the privatisation of water supplies, this article uses institutional economics to examine the incentives for English and Australian water providers to implement strategies to reduce household water consumption. The authors hypothesise that the effective marketing of reduced domestic water consumption is likely to be strengthened by the extent of government control over water providers. This hypothesis is examined using a case study of ten English water companies (all privately owned and subject to identical government regulation) and ten Australian water utilities (with varying degrees of government ownership and regulation), focusing on their promotion of home retrofitting with water-efficient technology. The examination supports the hypothesis, leading to the conclusion that significant government control of water utilities is necessary to curb domestic water consumption. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

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  • Greg Barrett & Margaret Wallace, 2011. "An Institutional Economics Perspective: The Impact of Water Provider Privatisation on Water Conservation in England and Australia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(5), pages 1325-1340, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:25:y:2011:i:5:p:1325-1340
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-010-9747-0
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    2. Fiorenzo Franceschini & Elisa Turina, 2012. "Proposal for a Performance Dashboard for the Monitoring of Water and Sewage Service Companies (WaSCs)," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(1), pages 63-80, January.
    3. Maziotis, Alexandros & Saal, David S. & Thanassoulis, Emmanuel & Molinos-Senante, María, 2016. "Price-cap regulation in the English and Welsh water industry: A proposal for measuring productivity performance," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 22-30.
    4. Miguel A. García-Rubio & Cecilia Tortajada & Francisco González-Gómez, 2016. "Privatising Water Utilities and User Perception of Tap Water Quality: Evidence from Spanish Urban Water Services," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(1), pages 315-329, January.
    5. Giulia Romano & Andrea Guerrini & Silvia Vernizzi, 2013. "Ownership, Investment Policies and Funding Choices of Italian Water Utilities: An Empirical Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(9), pages 3409-3419, July.
    6. Giulia Romano & Nicola Salvati & Andrea Guerrini, 2014. "Factors Affecting Water Utility Companies’ Decision to Promote the Reduction of Household Water Consumption," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(15), pages 5491-5505, December.
    7. Marc Spiller & Brian McIntosh & Roger Seaton & Paul Jeffrey, 2015. "Integrating Process and Factor Understanding of Environmental Innovation by Water Utilities," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(6), pages 1979-1993, April.

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