Payment modalities for low-income households

This study aims to generate insights into the payment modalities across Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)-supported public-private partnerships (PPPs) in water supply projects, in terms of: the type of costs to which users contribute, the modalities through which payments are made, and their effectiveness, accompanying social, technical and financial measures, and the relation between these modalities and external contextual factors. It contains: case studies of payment modalities in 10 selected projects, and a synthesis, leading to a typology of the modalities and a cross-case assessment of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of these modalities. The study uses a conceptual framework, which differentiates between the types of costs to which payments are made: capital costs of new water supply systems costs of connecting to an existing system (connection fees), and operation, maintenance and replacement costs, through user charges. This study confirms the high relevance of payment modalities that reduce the barrier of the upfront payment to get access to a water supply service. This is in the interest of both low-income households and service providers who can increase their revenue base more rapidly. It concludes with recommendations for both water supply projects aimed at low-income households and RVO.