4 ms·
If they increase the unit cost rather than the base rate, then there's still an incentive to conserve. It just means that the people who didn't conserve water i
by leoedin 6y ago
If they increase the unit cost rather than the base rate, then there's still an incentive to conserve. It just means that the people who didn't conserve water initially are now paying more. To get back to the same price they need to conserve water.
That's exactly the behaviour we (society) want - overall, water is conserved.
Increasing the base rate (making water a fixed cost regardless of usage) has the opposite effect. That was clearly a mistake on the part of the water company.
- jjav 6y agoExactly! I wish they'd set the base rate to like $1 (just to cover sending the bill) and substantially increase per-gallon cost. That would incentivize conservation. Unfortunately the water agency only cares about the profit they make and could not care less about conservation.