Vergleich der Trinkwasserpreise im europaeischen Rahmen

Abstract

In this project, the costs of water supply services and drinking water prices in selected Member States of the European Union were investigated. An analysis of available studies and statistics was complemented with research and interviews carried out by experts based in countries under study. The results of these were documented in case study reports following a standard outline. These are documented in their original language version in the materials annex to this report. There are clearly a number of obstacles to international comparisons, factors whose distorting influence can only be assessed and controlled on the basis of detailed knowledge of the units of comparison (supply areas, municipalities, regions, states). Prominent among these are different tariff structures with fixed and variable components, the allocation of costs for new connections, accounting and invoicing procedures, taxes and charges, depreciation of assets and the fiscal and liquidity effects, provisions and reserves, subsidies and cross-subsidies as well as differences in the quality of services rendered. Plausible as the relevance of these factors for international comparisons of water prices may be, data and information which would meet the requirements of a systematic comparison of costs and prices of water supply services are nevertheless not currently available in the Member States investigated. Through this project, a number of shortcomings in existing international comparisons of water prices were revealed and recommendations were reached on possible improvements of such comparisons. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RN 8422(1998,22) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, Bonn (Germany)DEGerman