Universalization of Access to Sanitation Services and the Efficiency of Brazilian Water and Sewage Utility Companies: A Dynamic Network Analysis

The sanitation sector in Brazil has undergone important transformations in the past two decades, seeking alternatives to overcome the country’s ongoing access deficit. The regulatory framework set out in 2007 strengthened regulation and established, among its regulatory objectives, the universalization of access and the efficiency of systems, which contributed to expanding investments in the sector. This article was aimed at establishing and applying a global, dynamic network efficiency assessment model for water and sewage utility companies in order to analyze not only operational efficiency but also the providers’ efficiency in converting financial investments into the expansion and improvement of networks. The application of the Dynamic Network Data Envelopment Analysis model for a sample of 156 Brazilian utility companies, from 2006 to 2015, revealed low levels of overall and divisional efficiency, highlighting the importance of evaluating efficiency over time, and of considering the providers’ internal structure, in order to identify inefficiencies that may compromise the achievement of regulatory objectives.