“Finally, we must put in place a progressive and empowering pricing of water”, revealed Emmanuel Macron. This is the fifth and last major axis of the “water plan” that the government has been preparing for several months and that the President of the Republic is came to present Thursday in the Hautes-Alpes.
We know the context. It is that of a sharp drop in the available water resource in France and that global warming will further accelerate. This water plan, built around fifty measures, must then change our relationship with water by taking into account this new situation. Objective: 10% savings by 2030 “in all sectors”, insists the president. Including therefore the domestic uses of water.
Competence of local authorities
“From households to offices, through public buildings and small businesses, this represents 25% of drinking water consumption,” recalls Nathalie Davoine, from Water Information Center (CIWater). Not nothing, especially since there are significant sources of savings in these uses. Starting with the shower. »
It remains to embark the French in this process of sobriety. By touching the pricing of water precisely? This competence is in the hands of local authorities. “The vast majority today apply a tariff in two parts, with a fixed part which corresponds to the subscription and a variable part which is invoiced according to the volume of water consumed”, recalls Alexandre Mayollecturer in economics at the University of Lorraine and author of a thesis on progressive pricing.
But, in this variable part, the price per m³ of water never changes, whether we consume 1 or 100 or even more. Which hardly invites sobriety. It is this principle that changes with the progressive pricing by increasing the price per m³ of water by slices of consumption. “The first m³ are invoiced at a modest price, close to the cost price, explains Emmanuel Macron. This corresponds to the water we all need for drinking, washing and other daily uses. “But, beyond a certain threshold, “for comfort uses”, the price per m³ increases, which is “common sense”, for the president.
Rather positive results
Several local authorities did not wait for “this water plan” to adopt progressive pricing. “This is the case of Dunkirk, pioneer city in this field, says Alexandre Mayol. Previously, the m³ of drinking water consumed was billed at just over 1 euro, regardless of the volume consumed. With progressive pricing, the price fell to 80 euro cents for the first 75 m³, then drops to 1.50 euro between 75 and 200 m³, and rises to 2 euros beyond that. “Other communities have gotten into it, “in areas where there is already a lack of water or where tourism is important or which have to deal with an influx of new inhabitants, adds Régis Taisne, head of the “cycle water” at the National Federation of Granting Authorities and Regulators (FNCCR). In the lot, big cities like Nice, Rennes, Niort, Rouen, Annecy or the metropolis of Montpellier where the first fifteen m³ are even free. »
For what result? “It’s quite effective in reducing water consumption, agrees Alexandre Mayol. There are reductions of between 8 and 10%. “All without it always comes to increases in bills for households. “In Dunkirk, for example, they have on the contrary fallen for 80% of households”, continues the researcher. Those who have managed to limit their consumption to overflow as little as possible from the first tranche.
The big consumer is also the large family
But Alexandre Mayol invites us to also look at the remaining 20% and sees this as a first limit of progressive pricing. “This system tends to stigmatize heavy consumers by making them look like inattentive people, who prioritize their comforts, he slips. However, it is also, and often even, large families. “The problem can also be seen in the other direction, points out Régis Taisne: “Consuming 50 m³ of water over a year is not much for a couple, but a lot for a single person, but the latter will remain a winner with the progressive pricing . »
Measures can make it possible to erase or at least attenuate these biases. Dunkirk, for example, has introduced social pricing. “Families who have complementary universal health coverage [CMUC] automatically benefit from an automatic reduction on the first installment,” explains Alexandre Mayol.
“We could also leave the possibility to local authorities to apply different prices to second homes or those equipped with swimming pools”, also imagines Régis Taisne. But everything is not so simple here again: all these countermeasures risk coming into conflict with the General Data Production Regulations (GDPR).
Set up a water Ecowatt
Alexandre Mayol then engages on a second limit of progressive pricing: “For it to be fully effective, you have to be informed in real time of your water consumption and not just a year later when you discover your bill. With this in mind, Emmanuel Macron mentioned the launch, by mid-May, of a device similar to the Ecowatt which already exists on energy..
At CIEau, Nathalie Davoine also and above all relies on smart meters. “Only 40% of homes are equipped with it today,” she points out. “But very often, in collective housing, these meters are installed at the scale of the building and not of the apartments, which does not help to control its consumption”, nuance Alexandre Mayol. As for the hope of one day covering 100% of households, the economist doubts it, recalling the rejection by some French people of “Linky” electricity meters.
And why not also for farmers?
What could then help this acceptance, for Alexandre Mayol, would be to apply the same progressive pricing to other water users. “Either agriculture, which represents 48% of water consumption in France, and industry, 32%,” he points out. However, this is not the price path in this Water plane.
“To our great regret, says Alexis Guilpart, coordinator of the “water” network of France Nature Environment. However, this would be an interesting lever to encourage more sobriety, particularly among irrigating farmers, who benefit from very low water prices today. “Sometimes even decreasing in certain areas,” adds Régis Taisne.