Tariff-check for Water Utilities – Web-based tariff-check for assessing revenue stability in times of demand decrease – is your water tariff sustainable?

Abstract

The trend of a decrease in water demand in most parts of Germany forces water utilities to take appropriate action: Tariff models with focus on variable prices cannot guarantee that costs are covered by revenue. Cost coverage is, however, a fundamental principle for any economic activity to be sustainable and even is compulsory for German water utilities. A successful redesign for tariff models is therefore an important step towards revenue stability. In cooperation with the German Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) the consultancy MOcons developed a tariff-check. Water utilities can check their tariff model free of charge on www.tarifmodell-wasser.de and find out, whether it is well equipped against demand decreases. Neither the BDEW nor MOcons gains knowledge about the data submitted by water utilities.