آب و فاضلاب (Jan 2012)
Urban Water Pricing Based on Per-capita Increasing Rate Tariff
Abstract
In this article, the current water pricing system in urban regions, which is based on IBT-Con (Increasing Block Tariff – per Connection), is being analyzed. The existing system has a lot of problems due to its improper executive structure; For instance, results showed that, more-populated houses (with larger dimensions), in some cases, have utilized water about 220% more than houses with lower dimensions; and consequently have paid about 300% more water-fees in comparison with less-populated houses. This research reveals that, less-populated houses have utilized about 2.5 times more water per-capita, compared to more-populated houses. However, water charges (per service-line) were almost the same for both groups, and even less for less-populated houses. This study, in order to set a resolution for existing tariff system structure has proposed a tariff system based on IRT-Cap (Increasing Rate Tariff – per Capita). The proposed tariff system for low and high income households showed that not only all problems (resulting from existing IBT-Con system) are removed, but also for equal conditions of per-house water utilization, charges paid by high-income households (with a dimension of two) is about 35% more than the low-income ones (with a dimension of eight). That is, with replacement of the proposed tariff system instead of the existing one, social equity in household potable water sector will be satisfied.
