We evaluate whether changing from a uniform price (UP) to an increasing block tariff (IBT) changes people's behavior. We exploit a unique setting in which the price scheme moves back and forth yearly from UP to IBT. We discuss the effectiveness of IBT in reducing summer consumption. This issue is relevant to many countries and policymakers interested in designing tariff structures. There is no evidence of how the same consumer may react to systematically switching from one tariff structure to another yearly. We estimate the residential water demand and its price elasticity using a generalized least squared random effect model for the UP and the discrete/continuous choice model for the IBT. In addition, we split the sample between low and high-consumption groups. For the low consumption group unaffected by the tariff change, the elasticity in the nonsummer months is higher (more elastic) than in the summer. Consumers in this group reduce their elasticity from nonsummer to summer months (−0.299 vs. −0.071, respectively) and increase their consumption by 13%. The high consumption group increased its summer consumption, but only by 8.7%, and contrary to the first group, its elasticity increased significantly (from −0.299 to −0.568). The high-consumption group is indeed affected by the change in tariff. From a policy perspective, this implies that the IBT structure is relevant. However, if the policy seeks to promote conservation, it needs to be adjusted to a lower decile of the water consumption distribution to affect a more significant portion of the population.

中文翻译：

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估算统一价格 (UP) 和增加的集体水价 (IBT) 之间的系统转变下的住宅用水需求

我们评估从统一价格 (UP) 改为递增的集体关税 (IBT) 是否会改变人们的行为。我们利用独特的环境，价格方案每年从 UP 到 IBT 来回移动。我们讨论 IBT 在减少夏季消费方面的有效性。这个问题与许多对设计关税结构感兴趣的国家和政策制定者相关。没有证据表明同一消费者对每年从一种关税结构系统性地转向另一种关税结构会有何反应。我们使用 UP 的广义最小二乘随机效应模型和 IBT 的离散/连续选择模型来估计住宅用水需求及其价格弹性。此外，我们将样本分为低消费组和高消费组。对于不受关税变化影响的低消费群体来说，非夏季月份的弹性比夏季更高（更有弹性）。该群体的消费者从非夏季到夏季的弹性降低（分别为-0.299 和-0.071），消费量增加了 13%。高消费组的夏季消费有所增加，但仅增加了8.7%，并且与第一组相反，其弹性显着增加（从-0.299到-0.568）。高消费群体确实受到了关税变化的影响。从政策角度来看，这意味着 IBT 结构是相关的。然而，如果该政策旨在促进​​节约，则需要将其调整到用水量分布的较低十分位，以影响更大部分的人口。