Wasteful habits prop up income

摘要

Volumetric tariffs may be all the rage, but regionally, average tariffs rarely reflect consumption habits. North America has done a good job of increasing its tariffs to match Western Europe, and because North Americans use almost twice as much water as their European counterparts, Northern American utilities are bringing in much more revenue overall. On the other end of the spectrum, cost recovery is still an uphill battle in Southern Asia and the Middle East, which have stubbornly low tariffs but sometimes American levels of consumption. Sub-Saharan Africa on the other hand, despite relatively low tariffs also consumes the least, meaning it's cost to consumption ratio is comparable to that of Eastern Europe.