Round Rock plans new water rate structure to curb excess use

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

You gotta love theory. Sure, the people who use a tremendous amount of water at home frequently have the money to pay for it, thus less elasticity at that level(No, wait...that's backwards. No, wait, people who can afford higher utilities WON'T react to a small 'penalty'. No, wait...we're talking about the three driest/hottest summers in a row...not some text-book theory or unrelated anecdotal stats).

However, all the theories go out the window when 'our' hundred year-old oaks are threatened by severe drought and we decide to pop for an extra fifty bucks a month during the summer to save trees worth tens of thousands.

We're (generally) not talking about folks who wash their cars every day or just let the water run down the curb. "Sure, honey...let's let the cars go for a day since we're about to cross the xx,000 gallon threshold and will have to pay ten dollars more!"

As I said, a few folks will be prompted to check for leaks, etc; but the people who use excessive amounts of water usually can afford an extra few bucks a month. If you're gonna hit'em hard, hit'em HARD. Pish-posh on the theory 'behind' the insignificant numbers they're talking about.

what is interesting is that what you are proposing is also a theory. However you have no data to back up your statements. I have the full weight of the field of economics, plus plenty of studies around price elasticity of urban water usage. You imagine that rich people arent elastic in their demand curves but the evidence - the data, suggests otherwise.

This price increase may not reduce water usage, but at $100/gallon even the super rich would reduce their usage. Somewhere between $5/1000 gallons and $100/gallon the consumption of the top 50% of water users will drop.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Austin97

what is interesting is that what you are proposing is also a theory. However you have no data to back up your statements. I have the full weight of the field of economics, plus plenty of studies around price elasticity of urban water usage. You imagine that rich people arent elastic in their demand curves but the evidence - the data, suggests otherwise.

This price increase may not reduce water usage, but at $100/gallon even the super rich would reduce their usage. Somewhere between $5/1000 gallons and $100/gallon the consumption of the top 50% of water users will drop.

Thank you. I'm pretty sure that's what I said. Now, which will have a greater impact on the amount of water used: A) The proposed insignificant rate structure or 2) Your example of a theoretical $100/gallon price? Answer: Neither

And we're not talking about 'rich' people being the ones interested in saving their trees and landscape at the cost of a couple hundred bucks a summer. Regular ole folk can see the shortsightedness of endangering thousands of dollars of trees and landscaping for the imagined savings of. say, fifty bucks a month.

What MAY happen is a reasonable rainy season(whatever that actually is in cenTex) and all the 'theorists' taking credit for developing this grand tiered water rate system that magically reduced the amount of water used by homeowners. Snicker-snicker.

[mickey65]

Screw the grass, I just need the water to keep my foundation moist - that's all!