Determining a Socially Fair Drinking Water Pricing Policy: The Case of Kozani, Greece

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC clearly indicates that all member states should develop and apply water pricing policies to recover the Full Water Cost (FWC) (including the direct cost, the environmental and the water resource costs). Drinking water pricing policies set by the water utilities today do not comply with the WFD basic principle. They are rather determined locally, without taking into consideration environmental (e.g. river basin water balance) or economic issues (e.g. socially fair allocation of the water cost). This paper proposes a new, socially fair drinking water pricing policy, taking into consideration the FWC recovery and socially fairness. This methodology is applied in the water utility of Kozani, in Greece.