1 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre 2002 Session 5.B Information needed for water pricing & expenditure on water – Vienna – 22 June 2005 French experience with water prices survey and use - Illustration from the Artois-Picardie river basin Arnaud Courtecuisse Agence de lEau Artois-Picardie – France

2 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre 2002 Content of the presentation 1.The objectives of the survey 2.The Artois-Picardie basins context 3.Water price survey 4. Assessment of households available income 5. Comparison Water bill vis à vis available income 6. Results, limits and discussion

3 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre The objectives of the survey from water price to water bill analysis the rising of the awareness about social impact of water bill the context of the WFDs implementation and its reference to disproportionate costs : comparison of costs and benefits capacity of economic sectors (inc. households) to finance the environmental objectives targeted

4 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre The context of the Artois-Picardie Basin

5 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre The context of the Artois-Picardie Basin Km2 4,7 Millions inhabitants GDP: 98 billions GPD/inhabitant: GPD/inh France: Rivers quality assessment Unemployment rate : 12,7% France: 9,9 % 96% of drinkable water come from groundwater

6 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre 2002

7 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Water price survey tariffs for water and sewerage set at municipality level (2 448 for the Artois-Picardie basin) an annual survey is undertaken by the Artois- Picardie Water agency (i.e. collecting the price for water and sewerage for all municipalities for a mean consumption of 120m3 per year and per household) this survey covers (in 2004) 95% of the basins population

8 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Water price survey one page questionnaire sent to municipalities, groups of municipalities, private operators every year a feedback to all municipalities through 4 pages results (mean water price for the basin, for sub-basin,…) since 2004 survey, the data at municipality level can be found on the Artois-Picardie agency website

9 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Water price survey Mean Price for one m3

10 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Water price survey Water Distribution Sewerage Environmental Taxes Other taxes VAT The breakdown of the 3,28 euros

11 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre 2002 Country Consumption (liter/day/perso nn Mean water price m3 Water + sewerage+taxes (euros/m3) Spain Ireland Luxembourg UK Italy Sweden Portugal Greece France Finland Germany Belgium Netherlands Danmark Austria ,0 0 0,90 1,6 0,8 1,15 1,0 1,1 2,6 2,5 3,6 1,9 2,7 4,3 2,6 IWA

12 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre 2002 table 1 : Mean available income per household in all the sub-region of the Artois-Picardie Basin. Source : INSEE (National Statistics) + CEGMA TOPO 4. Assessment of households available income

13 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Comparison Water bill vis à vis available income Mean Water bill (all services) (price paid for 120m3 in a year) Mean available income per household Mean available income per household (A) Mean Water invoice per household (120m3/year) (B)B/A Aisne ,94% Nord ,51% Pas de Calais ,85% Somme ,61% Table 2 : comparison of the mean water invoice with mean available income per household

14 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre 2002 Water bill / mean available Income

15 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Comparison at municipality level More than 3% Less than 1% Water Bill / Mean Available Income

16 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre 2002 More than 2% Water Bill / Available Income Only Water Distribution 5. Comparison at municipality level

17 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Results, limits and discussion several groups of municipalities with ratio>3% (2- 3% is a guidance value – see OCDE, EU, Académie de leau) these groups of municipalities combine high water price and low mean available income (and sometimes households expenses to buy bottled water equivalent to annual water bill)

18 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Results, limits and discussion the commonly used value of annual consumption of 120 m3 per household hides important differences of mean consumption per region mean available income per municipality hides also various situations (and the real part of the population facing major difficulties to pay water bills)

19 AC - Agence de leau Artois-PicardieVienna, 22 June novembre Results, limits and discussion what to do ? Continue ! Refine this ratio and continue to track it in the coming years pay a specific attention to the groups of municipalities where efforts to meet WFD objectives should lead to major increase in water price (extent solidarity principle, delay or less stringent objectives ?) it raises this issue of specific social tariffs (e.g. Flanders experience, blocks tariffs, development of water savings, renew confidence in tap water)