RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Techno-economic efficiency of water utilities: a peer-evaluation estimation
A1 Mocholí Arce, Manuel
A1 Sala Garrido, Ramón
A1 Maziotis, Alexandros
A1 Molinos Senante, María
K1 Techno-economic efficiency
K1 Water utilities
K1 Quality of service
K1 Continuity
K1 Data envelopment analysis
K1 Cross-efficiency
K1 3308 Ingeniería y Tecnología del Medio Ambiente
AB Water utilities provide water and sanitation services in monopolistic conditions. Hence,assessing their performance through benchmarking is crucial for proper regulation. Thisresearch addresses the limitations of self-evaluation Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)models commonly used for benchmarking water utilities’ efficiency. Given that these mod-els often lead to overestimated efficiency scores, our study introduces a cross-efficiencyanalysis framework integrating both self and peer-evaluation perspectives. This innovativeapproach, applied to a representative sample of Chilean water utilities, uniquely consid-ers unplanned water supply interruptions and sewerage blockages as undesirable outputs,emphasizing service continuity. Average techno-economic efficiency scores based on self-evaluation, and peer-evaluation were 0.681 and 0.388, respectively. Hence, significanttechno-economic efficiency overestimations in self-evaluation scores are evident, withimplications for regulatory challenges and potential service quality compromises. Thedata also highlights a considerable opportunity for improvement in water and sanitationcontinuity in Chilean water utilities. The findings not only shine a spotlight on the inherentbiases of prevalent benchmarking techniques but also highlight a substantial avenue forbolstering water and sanitation service continuity within water utilities.
PB Springer
SN 0920-4741
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/75892
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/75892
LA eng
NO Water Resources Management, 2025.
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 07-jun-2025