The budgetary situation of households with respect to water pricing in Spain

ABSTRACT

This research examines the differences in the price for water supply for the Spanish households according to the type of household and the region of residence, which is of great relevance in terms of equity. The analysis covers the entire Spanish territory with the aim of establishing comparisons between regions, determining the current situation of the various household types and highlighting some considerations on the water policy financing. The evidence obtained shows how the invoice has an unequal impact on the various types of household, as well as that there are large differences between territories. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the differences are greater as household income decreases, thus affecting households with tighter budgets or more members. For this reason, modifying the water price policy with the objective of inducing equality and efficiency, in addition to pursuing cost recovery, would be convenient.

KEYWORDS:

• Water pricing
• tariff structure
• regional prices
• Spain
• cost recovery
• water policy
• household characteristics

Acknowledgements

Finally, many thanks to the editors and reviewers who have contributed to the improvement of this article, as well as to Ana De Souza Bossler for her help with the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The data utilised (Household Budget Survey and regional data) is available on the Spanish National Statistics Institute website, which can be accessed through this link for the survey and this link for the regional data. As already mentioned during the article, the 2016, 2017 and 2018 edition are used. In addition, it should be noted that the previous webpage can be consulted in English, but the design of the survey is only available in Spanish. Finally, data about Water Exploitation Index Plus (WEI+) by river basin is available at the webpage of the European Environment Agency through this link.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Office of the Vice President of Research and Knowledge Transfer of the University of Alicante, Spain (Marcos García-López has a scholarship for The Training of University Teachers from the University of Alicante, UAFPU2019-16), by the Water Chair of the University of Alicante-Alicante Provincial Council (2020), by the University Institute of Water and Environmental Sciences of the University of Alicante and by the Hábitat5U network of excellence.