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The Privatization Model

Water Privatization in Disguise

Publicly controlled entities ideally promote:

• universal access to service
• equality
• fair procedures
• participation

Public utilities promote the access to water for all citizens. The rule is used both in terms of price protection in order to ensure access despite differences of income and through protection of consumers who live far from public infrastructure.

Public utilities promote fair procedures. If a service is essential to citizens a higher procedural burden is promoted. Such procedures will allow the consumer to dispute and challenge charges. An essential service, such as water provision would likely be impossible to cut-off.

Public utilities ideally promote public participation in running and making decisions about water utilization. In some countries citizens are considered shareholders and elect the utility board directly, in others citizens are appointed to serve as controllers of utilities.

Privately controlled entities ideally promote:

A private utility is primarily there to make a profit and secondarily to deliver a service. Private companies therefore reserve the right not to serve citizens who live far off the grid or who are not able to pay for cost-recovery of their service. Private companies are not interested in delivering service to consumers who are not able to pay the full cost of delivery and they do not cross-subsidize from wealthy to poor consumers.

You only get what you pay for and low-income and poor consumers therefore receive an inferior service, including longer waits for repairs and fewer staff for service calls.

Private companies are only interested in minimal procedural rights and are known to challenge the rights or the consumers in court.

Citizens are not invited to take part in decision-making unless they own shares in the private corporations and control is therefore removed from local influence with the exception of wealthy shareholders who might reside in the area.

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