DOMESTIC WATER PRICING IN GREECE: MEAN NET CONSUMPTION COST VERSUS MEAN PAYABLE AMOUNT

The water utilities in Greece that are responsible for the development of domestic water pricing policies, are municipal enterprises (called DEYA). They are public agencies that are autonomous and have almost identical management framework and applied pricing policies in terms of water tariff structure, which mainly are inclining block rates; however, they differ significantly from region to region regarding the tariff levels. The main objective of this country-wide study/research is to form an appropriate methodology, with the aim to reach comparable results regarding the pricing policies applied by most DEYA in Greece, at regional and local level. For this, a sample of 84 DEYA was selected out of the 227 existing in 2010 (period of the study). A 5m(3) step (from 5 to 150m(3) monthly consumption) was used in the analysis, per water utility population served (5 groups) and per administrative region (each water utility belongs to one of 13 regions in Greece). The mean net consumption cost and the mean payable amount both calculated, per month, as water utilities do not share the same billing period. Charges, such as fee of construction and sewer use were excluded from the research. On the other hand, fixed charges such as water meter maintenance cost and standard maintenance costs were included. The overall conclusion is that there is a considerable spatial differentiation in pricing policies at a regional level, probably depending on other factors, (that need to be further analysed) than on the actual water supply and demand in each region.