Determinants of the efficiency of Chilean water and sanitation companies

What is it about?

Benchmarking the efficiency of water companies is essential to set water tariffs and to promote their sustainability. We find that the percentage of non-revenue water and customer density are factors influencing the efficiency of Chilean water and sewerage companies. This paper illustrates the importance of using a robust and reliable method to increase the relevance of benchmarking tools.

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Why is it important?

The results for the case study provides three primary conclusions. First, the efficiency ranking of WaSCs based on the conventional DEA model and on the double bootstrap procedure changes notably. Secondly, the percentage of non-revenue water and the density of customers significantly influence the efficiency of WaSCs. Finally, for the Chilean water and sewerage industry, it was illustrated that the peak factor, the source of water and the ownership of the WaSCs do not significantly influence their efficiency.