Assesing the influence of environmental variables on the performance of water companies: An efficiency analysis tree approach

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dc.contributor.authorMolinos-Senante, Maria
dc.contributor.authorMaziotis, Alexandros
dc.contributor.authorSala-Garrido, Ramon
dc.contributor.authorMocholi-Arce, Manuel
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-20T20:20:41Z
dc.date.available2025-01-20T20:20:41Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractEfficiency assessment is a valuable tool for industries that are regulated, such as the provision of drinking water. Hence, past research on this topic is wide. However, current, widely used approaches such as parametric, non -parametric and partial frontier methods present several limitations and pitfalls. Thus, here, the Efficiency Analysis Tree (EAT) method was trialled on a sample of water companies. This method overcomes overfitting issues, because it employs a combination of classification, regression tree methods, and non-parametric analyses. For comparative purposes, efficiency was also estimated using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Free Disposal Hull (FDH) non-parametric methods. The approach was applied empirically using a sample of English and Welsh water companies during 1991-2020. Average efficiency was estimated at 0.489, showing that water companies could save 51.1% of their costs if efficient. Except for the 2011-2015 period, efficiency increased over time, indicating that price reviews by the English and Welsh water regulator contributed to improving water company performance. The application of bootstrap regression analysis techniques showed that the main source of raw water, percentage of metered properties, population density, and percentage of water leakage represented environmental variables that significantly influenced the efficiency scores of water companies. The approach introduced here could be of use to water regulators, as it overcomes the existing limitations of traditional ap-proaches employed to assess the performance of water companies, facilitating sound decision-making.
dc.fuente.origenWOS
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.eswa.2022.118844
dc.identifier.eissn1873-6793
dc.identifier.issn0957-4174
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2022.118844
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositorio.uc.cl/handle/11534/92591
dc.identifier.wosidWOS:000869653600010
dc.language.isoen
dc.revistaExpert systems with applications
dc.rightsacceso restringido
dc.subjectRegression trees
dc.subjectEfficiency analysis
dc.subjectPerformance
dc.subjectWater utilities
dc.subjectEnvironmental variables
dc.subjectWater services
dc.subject.ods09 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
dc.subject.odspa09 Industria, innovación e infraestructura
dc.titleAssesing the influence of environmental variables on the performance of water companies: An efficiency analysis tree approach
dc.typeartículo
dc.volumen212
sipa.indexWOS
sipa.trazabilidadWOS;2025-01-12
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