RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Assesing the Impact of Quality of Service on the Productivity of Water Industry: a Malmquist-Luenberger Approach for England and Wales
A1 Maziotis, Alexandros
A1 Molinos-Senante, María
A1 Sala-Garrido, Ramon
AB Assessing productivity change over time and identifying its determinants is avaluable tool for water regulators when setting water tariffs. However, in a price cap regulatoryframework such as in England and Wales policy makers should give attention to quality ofservice issues. Previous studies that assessed the productivity change of the English and Welshwater industry did not include the lack of quality of service to customers as undesirableoutputs. To overcome this limitation, and as a pioneering approach, we estimated theMalmquist-Luenberger Productivity Indicator and its components, efficiency and technicalchange, for the 10 water and sewerage companies and the 12 water only companies over theperiod 2001–2008. To explore the role of quality of service to customers on the productivitychange over time, we contrasted our results with a conventional measure of productivitychange namely the Luenberger productivity indicator. The findings suggest that from 2001 to2004 water companies made significant efforts to improve the quality of the service providedto customers, whereas after 2005 companies’ performance regarding customer services wasconsidered as poor. Results excluding quality of service variables illustrated that productivity declined during all years evaluated. However, when the quality of service was introduced inthe assessment, productivity improved by 4.13 % from 2000 to 2004 whereas it declined by16.96 % in the following years. From a policy perspective, water utility regulators need to payattention to quality of service issues when assessing companies’ performance and setting watertariffs under comparative yardstick regimes,
SN 0920-4741
YR 2016
FD 2016
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/64552
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/64552
LA spa
NO Water Resources Management, 2016, vol. 31, n. 8, p. 2407–2427.
DS UVaDOC
RD 23-may-2024