Skip to main content Skip to sections Advertisement SpringerLink Search SpringerLink Search Home Log in Environmental Economics and Policy Studies Download PDF Environmental Economics and Policy Studies July 2018, Volume 20, Issue 3, pp 547–560 | Cite as Effectiveness of two pricing structures on urban water use and conservation: a quasi-experimental investigation Authors Authors and affiliations Shyama Ratnasiri Email author Clevo Wilson Wasantha Athukorala Maria A. Garcia-Valiñas Benno Torgler Robert Gifford Research Article First Online: 24 November 2017 159Downloads Abstract Residential water demand management using price and non-price measures to conserve water has gained considerable international attention from water utilities over the last few decades. The objective of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of different pricing schemes on water conservation. In this study, we compare the ‘conservation-orientedness’ of two pricing schemes. These are a uniform pricing scheme and an increasing block tariff scheme (IBT) structure. A quasi-experimental method is used for this purpose involving 150 suburbs in the Brisbane City Council (BCC) in Queensland, Australia for a 4-year period between 2005 and 2008. Our results show there are more conservation benefits associated with an IBT pricing scheme than a uniform pricing scheme. Keywords