Locally uniform water utility pricing. Social and economic issues in an emergent policy in France and Italy.

Over the past fifteen or so years, the principles of 'full-cost recovery' and 'the user pays' have become prominent in water utility pricing across the EU. At the same time, uniform pricing has been introduced by local authorities to boost equality between users in a given territory. Two case studies in France and Italy reveal different processes, depending upon the institutional setting, though in both cases EU regulations exert increasing influence on the water pricing structure. Local congruence in pricing clearly accompanies cooperation between municipalities, promoting the legitimacy and visibility of public authorities but inducing complex economic mechanisms such as cross-subsidies and amendments to delegation agreements.