A Meta-Regression Analysis of Benchmarking Studies on Water Utilities Market Structure

Carvalho, Pedro; Marques, Rui Cunha; Berg, Sanford V.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1907747

Cited by 16 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…However, the expected result was ambiguous, since certain previous studies pointed to the possibility of there not being statistically significant economies of scale [30].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The possible reasons for this result essentially include greater network complexity, larger annualized capital costs, and higher transport costs as plant size increases. Furthermore, the public nature of the ownership and management of the facilities could affect the fact that, given the prevalence of public utilities in the water industry, there might be a certain tendency to privatize facilities with economies of scale [30].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, there should be a direct relationship between the size of the plant and its level of efficiency as reflected in the bibliography consulted [22,26,44,45]. However, although in principle a result of such nature might be expected, this is not always the actual observed effect [30].…”

Section: Data and Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conditional Order-m Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment Plants: The Role of Environmental Factors

Fuentes

Torregrosa

Ballenilla

2015

Water

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Abstract:The growing economic and environmental importance of managing water resources at a global level also entails greater efforts and interest in improving the functioning and efficiency of the increasingly more numerous wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this context, this study analyzes the efficiency of a uniform sample of plants of this type located in the region of Valencia (Spain). The type of efficiency measure used for this (conditional order-m efficiency) allows continuous and discrete contextual variables to be directly involved in the analysis and enables the assessment of their statistical significance and effect (positive or negative). The main findings of the study showed that the quality of the influent water and also the size and age of the plants had a significant influence on their efficiency levels. In particular, as regards the effect of such variables, the findings pointed to the existence of an inverse relationship between the quality of the influent water and the efficiency of the WWTPs. Also, a lower annual volume of treated water and more modern installations showed a positive influence. Additionally, the average efficiency levels observed turned out to be higher than those reported in previous studies.

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“…However, the expected result was ambiguous, since certain previous studies pointed to the possibility of there not being statistically significant economies of scale [30].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Conditional Order-m Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment Plants: The Role of Environmental Factors

Fuentes

Torregrosa

Ballenilla

2015

Water

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“…Structure: Carvalho et al (2012) conducted benchmarking studies of water utilities market structure. The authors used a statistical method called "meta-regression analysis" to evaluate the impacts of scale and scope economies in the water utilities.…”

Section: A Meta-regression Analysis Of Benchmarking Studies On Water mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Approach to Select Energy Benchmarking Parameters for Drinking Water Utilities

Chanpiwat

Sinha

2014

Pipelines 2014

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Energy efficiency is currently a hot topic on all regional, national, and global stages. Accurate measurements on how energy is being used over a period of time can improve performance of the drinking water utility substantially and reduce energy consumption. Nevertheless, the drinking water industry does not have a specific benchmarking practice to evaluate its energy performance of the system. Therefore, there are no standards to compare energy use between water utilities that have a variety of system characteristics. The goal of this research is to develop quantitative approach to select energy benchmarking parameters of the water system, so the drinking water utilities can use those parameters to improve their energy efficiency. In addition to a typical benchmarking of drinking water utilities, the energy benchmarking can specifically compare energy efficiency of a utility with other utilities nationwide.The research developed a regression model based on the statistical representation of the energy use and descriptive characteristics of the drinking water utilities data throughout the U.S.Methodologies to eliminate singularity and multicollinearity from collinear survey dataset are discussed. The all possible regressions were chosen as parameters selection methodology to identify a subset of most significant parameters, i.e. system characteristics, that can mathematically correspond to energy use across different utilities. As a result, the energy benchmarking would be able to calculate the predicted total energy use of the system from given system characteristics.iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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“…Many scholars have attempted to highlight the existence of economies of scale and scope in this industry to develop a comprehensive framework that can facilitate managerial and political decision making but the results have been inconclusive [1][2][3][4]. In particular, many of the studies that considered integration of various activities related to water services focused on the vertical integration of water delivery and wastewater services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Operational and Environmental Variables on Efficiency of Danish Water and Wastewater Utilities

Guerrini

Romano

Leardini

et al. 2015

Water

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Efficiency improvement is one of three patterns a public utility should follow in order to get funds for investments realization. The other two are recourse to bank loans or to private equity and tariff increase. Efficiency can be improved, for example, by growth and vertical integration and may be conditioned by environmental variables, such as customer and output density. Prior studies into the effects of these variables on the efficiency of water utilities do not agree on certain points (e.g., scale and economies of scope) and rarely consider others (e.g., density economies). This article aims to contribute to the literature by analysing the efficiency of water utilities in Denmark, observing the effects of operational and environmental variables. The method is based on two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) applied to 101 water utilities. We found that the efficiency of the water sector was not affected by the observed variables, whereas that of wastewater was improved by smaller firm size, vertical integration strategy, and higher population density.

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A Meta-Regression Analysis of Benchmarking Studies on Water Utilities Market Structure

Cited by 16 publications

References 49 publications

Conditional Order-m Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment Plants: The Role of Environmental Factors

Conditional Order-m Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment Plants: The Role of Environmental Factors

Quantitative Approach to Select Energy Benchmarking Parameters for Drinking Water Utilities

The Effects of Operational and Environmental Variables on Efficiency of Danish Water and Wastewater Utilities

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