Download or read book Water Electricity and the Poor written by Kristin Komives and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reviews the prevalence and variants of consumer subsidies found in the developing world and the effectiveness of these subsidies for the poor. It places consumer subsidies in a broader social protection framework and compares them with poverty-focused programmes in other sectors using a common metric. It concludes that the most common subsidy instruments perform poorly in comparison with most other transfer mechanisms. Alternative consumption and connection subsidy mechanisms show more promise, especially when combined with complementary non-price approaches to making utility services accessible and affordable to poor households. The many factors contributing to those outcomes are dissected, identifying those that can be controlled and used to improve performance.
Download or read book Markets for Federal Water written by Richard W. Wahl and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-18 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book clearly and authoritatively addresses significant issues of water policy in the western United States at a time when the growing scarcity of western water and the role of the Bureau of Reclamation in the allocation of that resource are becoming increasingly urgent issues. In this scholarly study, Wahl combines his insider's knowledge of the Interior Department's dam-building, regulatory, and water-pricing decisions with an objective analysis of the efficiency dilemma. The study begins by tracing the origins of the reclamation idea and the expansion of subsidies in the program since 1902. The author then recommends major changes in reclamation law and in the Bureau of Reclamation's policies for administering its water supply contracts. He uses four case studies to illustrate the application and potential benefits of his proposals.
Download or read book Water Subsidies written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Turning Off the Tap on Federal Water Subsidies written by E. Phillip LeVeen and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Designing Direct Subsidies for Water and Sanitation Services Panama a Case Study written by Andrés Gómez-Lobo, Jonathan Halpern, Vivien Foster and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: May 2000 - An alternative to traditional subsidies for water and sanitation services is direct subsidies - funds governments provide to cover part of the water bill for households that meet certain criteria. Issues associated with such a subsidy are analyzed through a case study of Panama. As an alternative to traditional subsidy schemes in utility sectors, direct subsidy programs have several advantages: they are transparent, they are explicit, and they minimize distortions of the behavior of both the utility and the customers. At the same time, defining practical eligibility criteria for direct subsidy schemes is difficult and identifying eligible households may entail substantial administrative costs. Foster, Gomez-Lobo, and Halpern, using a case study from Panama, discuss some of the issues associated with the design of direct subsidy systems for water services. They conclude that: · There is a need to assess - rather than assume - the need for a subsidy. A key test of affordability, and thus of the need for a subsidy, is to compare the cost of the service with some measure of household willingness to pay. · The initial assessment must consider the affordability of connection costs as well as the affordability of the service itself. Connection costs may be prohibitive for poor households with no credit, suggesting a need to focus subsidies on providing access rather than ongoing water consumption. · A key issue in designing a direct subsidy scheme is its targeting properties. Poverty is a complex phenomenon and difficult to measure. Eligibility must therefore be based on easily measurable proxy variables, and good proxies are hard to find. In choosing eligibility criteria for a subsidy, it is essential to verify what proportion of the target group fails to meet the criteria (errors of exclusion) and what proportion of nontarget groups is inadvertently eligible for the benefits (errors of inclusion). · Administrative costs are roughly the same no matter what the level of individual subsidies, so a scheme that pays beneficiaries very little will tend not to be cost-effective. It is important to determine what proportion of total program costs will be absorbed by administrative expenses. · Subsidies should not cover the full cost of the service and should be contingent on beneficiaries paying their share of the bill. Subsidies for consumption above a minimum subsistence level should be avoided. Subsidies should be provided long enough before eligibility is reassessed to avoid poverty trap problems. · The utility or concessionaire can be helpful in identifying eligible candidates because of its superior information on the payment histories of customers. It will also have an incentive to do so, since it has an interest in improving poor payment records. Thought should therefore be given at the design stage to the role of the service provider in the implementation of the subsidy scheme. · The administrative agency's responsibilities, the sources of funding, and the general principles guiding the subsidy system should have a clear legal basis, backed by regulations governing administrative procedures. · To reduce administrative costs and avoid duplication of effort, it would be desirable for a single set of institutional arrangements to be used to determine eligibility for all welfare and subsidy programs in a given jurisdiction, whether subnational or national. This paper - a product of the Finance, Private Sector, and Infrastructure Sector Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to evaluate and disseminate lessons of experience in designing policies to improve the quality and sustainability of infrastructure services and to enhance access of the poor to these basic services. The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].
Download or read book Water Subsidies written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book How Much is Enough written by Don Villarejo and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Information and Modeling Issues in Designing Water and Sanitation Subsidy Schemes written by Andrés Gómez-Lobo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evaluating design alternatives is a first step in introducing optimal water subsidy schemes. The definition of appropriate targeting criteria and subsidy levels needs to be supported by empirical analysis, generally an informationally demanding exercise. An assessment carried out in Panama revealed that targeting individual households would be preferable to geographically based targeting. Empirical analysis also showed that only a small group of very poor households needed a subsidy to pay their water bill.
Download or read book The Distributional Incidence of Residential Water and Electricity Subsidies written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Subsidies to residential utility customers are popular among policymakers, utility managers, and utility customers alike, but they are nonetheless the subject of much controversy. Utility subsidies are seen as a way to help make utility service affordable for poor households and as an alternative mechanism for income redistribution. These arguments in favor of subsidies are countered by serious concerns about their adverse effects on consumer behavior, utility operations, and the financial health of utilities. Both the affordability and redistributive arguments for subsidies are based on the presumption that poor households benefit disproportionately from water and electricity subsidies, that they are well-targeted to the poor. The authors test this assumption by examining the extent to which the poor benefit from consumption and connection subsidies for water and electricity services. Their analysis of a wide range of subsidy models from around the developing world shows that the most common form of utility subsidy-quantity-based subsidies delivered through the tariff structure-are highly regressive. Geographically targeted or means-tested subsidies do better, and in many cases have a progressive incidence, but large numbers of poor households remain excluded. Low levels of coverage and metering severely limit the effectiveness of consumption subsidy schemes to reach the poor. Simulations suggest that connection subsidies are an attractive alternative for low coverage areas, but only if utilities have the means and motivation to extend network access to poor households and only if those households choose to connect. "--World Bank web site.
Download or read book Water Electricity and the Poor written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book How Federal Policies Affect the Allocation of Water written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reclamation Reform Act Amendments of 1990 and Title XVI double Subsidies written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Subcommittee on Water and Power and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Irrigation Subsidies Reform Act of 1989 written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Wheat, Soybeans, and Feed Grains and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Trade in Water Under International Law written by Fitzgerald Temmerman and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is clear that more sustainable and efficient use of fresh water resources will become crucial in future global water management to avoid major threats to biological life. Trade in Water Under International Law offers a careful and well-reasoned introduction and analysis of this emerging and largely unchartered subject of international trade law, which has hitherto been of key importance in domestic law and policy, exploring the potential and limits of addressing the use of water resources in the context of World Trade Organization law.
Download or read book Water Electricity and the Poor written by Kristin Komives and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utility subsidies to consumers of water and electricity services are often justified as a mechanism for making services affordable for the poor. After all, an estimated 1.1 billion people in the developing world lack access to safe water, 2 billion are without electricity, and 2.4 billion without sanitation. But critics object that such subsidies can work against improving quality of service to existing consumers and extending access to unconnected households. Financially strapped utilities are often inefficient, provide low-quality services, and lag behind in expanding networks. During the 1990s, experts urged that water and electricity services should charge enough to fully cover costs. Households could spend 10-50 percent more on water and electricity without major effects on poverty levels, but in many countries much larger price increases are needed to recover costs. A substantial proportion of the population of lower income countries may find it difficult to pay the full cost of services.
Download or read book Today s Issues Water Subsidies Irrigiation Agriculture in the West written by Washington State Library and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Water Subsidies written by United States Accounting Office (GAO) and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water Subsidies: Impact of Higher Irrigation Rates on Central Valley Project Farmers
