Who benefits? Effects and perceptions of residential volumetric water billing

Paper in proceeding, 2012

What are the effects and perceptions of increased installation of water metering and volumetric billing in residential areas in Sweden? An interview study was undertaken in a low-income suburb of Göteborg to explore residents’ experiences and opinions. Additionally, the interests of water and energy companies, social affairs committee, real estate owner and maintainer were investigated to contrast the added value of reduced water consumption. Stakeholders either benefit or are disadvantaged by the introduced system. Furthermore, the applied tariff structure fails to motivate all segments of the population to reduce water consumption, yet still inequitably burdens the most financially exposed groups.