[Vision2020] Water: Lessons from elsewhere was Do the little things

[Nils Peterson]

This is interesting. Rebates to consumers is an interesting free-market
model. I remember various rebate programs run by Avista (formerly WWP) to
get people to insulate or upgrade appliances. They knew the marginal cost to
produce another unit of energy, and figured the cost of the incentive was
cheaper than their other options for increasing capacity. In effect, they
were buying power generation capacity from consumers at below market rates.

Which leads back to why I want to understand the marginal cost for water in
Moscow. If we knew that, an economic decision could be made, which might
include a rebate program.


On 4/27/06 9:29 AM, "Ron Force" <vision2020-request at moscow.com> wrote:

> Seattle had a major drought in 2001 and 2005, which tends to focus the mind.
> Here's an excerpt from the Seattle Weekly:
> 
> "Another big difference from 2001 is that water consumption is much lower.
> Seattle residents have embraced conservation techniques. According to
> Seattle Public Utilities, 400,000 more people are living in the metropolitan
> area, but water usage is back to what it was in the early 1970s. That
> conservation can be traced to public awareness campaigns and rebates to
> consumers for purchasing appliances and fixtures that use low amounts of
> energy and water. The utilities have also decreased consumption within their
> own organizations during this drought—for example, reducing the amount of
> water used for reservoir cleaning and limiting the number of spills done to
> maintain water quality."
> 
> Seattle water rates are 40% higher than comparative cities, which also gets
> people's attention.