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Use of PROPID to Preserve Customer Anonymity..............................................................................................38 POSTCARD, MANAGER, AND RESIDENT SURVEYS ....................................................................................38 Postcard Survey...................................................................................................................................................39 Manager Survey...................................................................................................................................................40 Resident Survey....................................................................................................................................................43 MATCHED PAIR SAMPLE...................................................................................................................................45 Matched Property Selection ................................................................................................................................45 Matched Property Site Visits ...............................................................................................................................46 QAQC – EVALUATION OF WATER USE FROM SURVEY SAMPLES ..........................................................48 Comparison of Postcard Survey Respondents with Sample Frame .....................................................................49 Comparison of the Manager Survey Respondents with the Postcard Survey Respondents .................................52 DATA ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................................53 Database Development........................................................................................................................................53 Refining Historic Water Consumption.................................................................................................................54 Water Use Analyses .............................................................................................................................................56 SUPPLEMENTAL DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................................60 Weather Data.......................................................................................................................................................60 Utility Water and Wastewater Rates....................................................................................................................60 Survey of Potential Regulators ............................................................................................................................60 Read and Bill Company Survey ...........................................................................................................................61 Tenant Advocacy Groups.....................................................................................................................................61 QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL.......................................................................................61 CHAPTER 4 STUDY SITE CHARACTERISTICS AND SURVEY RESULTS.................................................65 STUDY SITE CHARACTERISTICS .....................................................................................................................65 Water and Wastewater Rates...............................................................................................................................65 Weather Patterns .................................................................................................................................................67 POSTCARD SURVEY RESULTS .........................................................................................................................67 Annual Water Use Patterns .................................................................................................................................71 MANAGER SURVEY RESULTS..........................................................................................................................71 Property Characteristics .....................................................................................................................................71 Water Bill Payment..............................................................................................................................................80 Water Fixture Change-out...................................................................................................................................85 MATCHED PAIRS SITE SURVEY RESULTS.....................................................................................................87 Site Visits .............................................................................................................................................................87 Comparison of Site Visit Surveys with Manager Survey Results .........................................................................88 RESIDENT SURVEY RESULTS ....................................................................................................................................89 Water Using Fixtures...........................................................................................................................................89 Water Conservation.............................................................................................................................................92 Experience with Water Billing.............................................................................................................................95 Surveyed Resident Characteristics ......................................................................................................................97 Actual Water and Wastewater Bills.....................................................................................................................99 READ AND BILL COMPANIES AND SURVEY RESULTS ............................................................................117 Sample Size........................................................................................................................................................119 General Description of Billing Companies........................................................................................................119 Billing Method ...................................................................................................................................................119 Customer Service, Bills, and Fees .....................................................................................................................121 National Administrative Guidelines...................................................................................................................122 CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS OF WATER USE AND BILLING METHODS .......................................................125 ESTIMATED WATER USE BY DIFFERENT BILLING METHODOLOGIES ................................................125 Analytic Methods ...............................................................................................................................................126 Summary of Findings on Water Savings............................................................................................................127 Annual per Unit Water Use ...............................................................................................................................131 Manager Survey Respondents............................................................................................................................136 Factors that Influence Water Use......................................................................................................................144 Multivariate Models to Determine Impacts of Water Billing Programs............................................................152 iv
Matched-Pair Analysis ......................................................................................................................................166 Pre/Post Billing Conversion ..............................................................................................................................172 COMPARISON OF RESULTS WITH OTHER STUDIES..................................................................................176 CHAPTER 6 COSTS AND BENEFITS ................................................................................................................181 UTILITY PERSPECTIVE.....................................................................................................................................181 Perceived Benefits .............................................................................................................................................181 Perceived Concerns...........................................................................................................................................182 Utility Cost/Benefit Analysis..............................................................................................................................183 Summary of Utility Perspective .........................................................................................................................183 PROPERTY OWNER PERSPECTIVE ................................................................................................................184 Perceived Benefits .............................................................................................................................................184 Perceived Concerns...........................................................................................................................................185 Owner Benefit/Cost Analysis .............................................................................................................................186 Summary of Owner Perspective.........................................................................................................................191 RESIDENT PERSPECTIVE.................................................................................................................................191 Perceived Benefits .............................................................................................................................................191 Perceived Concerns...........................................................................................................................................192 Resident Benefit/Cost Analysis ..........................................................................................................................193 Summary of Resident Perspective......................................................................................................................194 ANALYSIS OF PRICE ELASTICITIES ..............................................................................................................198 Elasticity Analysis #1 - Utility Metered Use......................................................................................................199 Elasticity Analysis #2 Submetered Water Use ...................................................................................................201 Policy Implications of Price Elasticity Analyses ...............................................................................................203 Summary of Elasticities and Comparisons with Other Studies..........................................................................204 ECONOMIC COMPARISON OF SUBMETERING AND RUBS BASED ON CONSUMER CHOICE THEORY..............................205 CHAPTER 7 REGULATORY FRAMEWORK REVIEW .................................................................................211 FEDERAL POLICIES RELATING TO MULTI-FAMILY BILLING.................................................................211 Safe Drinking Water Regulation........................................................................................................................211 Weights and Measures Standards......................................................................................................................213 Water and Energy Efficiency Standards............................................................................................................214 POLICIES OF STATES AND UTILITIES TOWARD MULTI-FAMILY BILLING .........................................215 State Regulatory Survey.....................................................................................................................................215 The South Carolina Survey................................................................................................................................217 New Surveys of State Agencies and Water Utility Managers ............................................................................218 State Agencies and Water Utility Managers Survey Results..............................................................................220 DISCUSSION - KEY EXAMPLES OF STATE AND LOCAL POLICIES.........................................................228 Landlord/Tenant Law ........................................................................................................................................228 Public Utility Regulation ...................................................................................................................................230 Safe Drinking Water Regulation........................................................................................................................233 Weights and Measures Regulation ....................................................................................................................234 Local Regulation Only, Legislation in Progress, or No Policy .........................................................................234 TENANT ADVOCACY GROUPS.................................................................................................................................237 CHAPTER 8 ISSUES REGARDING POINT-OF-USE METER STANDARDS..............................................241 NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR METERING STANDARDS.......................................242 DISCUSSION........................................................................................................................................................244 Accuracy Standards...........................................................................................................................................244 Point of Use Meter Issues..................................................................................................................................245 CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .........................................................................253 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................................................253 Prevalence of Billing for Water and Wastewater at Multi-family Properties....................................................253 Estimated Water Use By Different Billing Methods ..........................................................................................254 COSTS AND BENEFITS .....................................................................................................................................255 Utility Perspective .............................................................................................................................................256 v
Page 1 and 2: NATIONAL MULTIPLE FAMILY SUBMETERIN
Page 3: CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES............
Page 7 and 8: LIST OF TABLES Table ES.1.1 Breakdo
Page 9: Table 6.6 Elasticity values, analys
Page 12 and 13: Figure 4.30 RUBS water bill #6 ....
Page 14 and 15: investigated local water savings as
Page 16 and 17: We are grateful to the members of a
Page 18 and 19: quantitative aspects of separate bi
Page 20 and 21: 3. Owner/postcard survey: To identi
Page 22 and 23: "averages" of impact property water
Page 24 and 25: in-rent properties, others used the
Page 26 and 27: of these models included the billin
Page 28 and 29: 70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
Page 30 and 31: COSTS AND BENEFITS Beyond quantifyi
Page 32 and 33: service charge, then the resident w
Page 34 and 35: Billing Method Efficient Fixtures?
Page 36 and 37: 70 Avg. Water Use per MF Unit (kgal
Page 38 and 39: REGULATORY FRAMEWORK REVIEW The fra
Page 40 and 41: Table ES.1.12 NSUAA Summary of Stat
Page 42 and 43: above, the researchers offer the fo
Page 44 and 45: service is preferable, and would he
Page 46 and 47: practices (BMPs) should be implemen
Page 48 and 49: infrastructure of the building and
Page 50: multi-family housing. The transfer
Page 53 and 54: CHAPTER 1 INTRODU CTION More and mo
Page 55 and 56:
In 1998, 15.0%, or 15.4 million, of
Page 57 and 58:
TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS OF BILL
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submetering. With utility-submeteri
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all the two bedroom units for $20 p
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HOW TO USE THIS REPORT This report
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CHAPTER 2 LITERAT URE REVIEW As the
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A review of the literature unearthe
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The price elasticity of water deman
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expected. Additionally, McClelland
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submetered and five control (in-ren
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Another study might want to target
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CHAPTER 3 RESEARC H METHODS, APPROA
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1. Selection of participating study
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STUDY SITE SELECTION The Study aime
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Figure 3.2 National Multiple Family
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Matched pair protocol/survey - conf
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information given the available bud
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survey. Service companies that prov
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in “business to business” calli
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MATCHED PAIR SAMPLE The purpose of
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The second part of the visit requir
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epresentative of a known population
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51 Table 3.7 Postcard survey statis
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Table 3.8 Comparison of annual wate
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postcard survey. Nevertheless, exam
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confidence interval ranged from 49.
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particular property (e.g., the mont
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State PUC officials - water commiss
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10. The PROPID number appearing on
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These costs represent the commodity
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The postcard survey provided inform
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Table 4.4 Average number of units f
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Two-thirds of the properties that r
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Percent of Surveyed Properties with
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$700 Average Rent Per Bedroom ($) $
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Percent of Surveyed Properties with
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Impact properties were also more li
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Table 4.8 Issues considered before
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Percent of Surveyed Impact Properti
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60% Percent of Surveyed Properties
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From the visits, it was found that
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100% Percent of Surveyed Residents
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Roughly similar proportions of resi
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inserts for toilets (21%) or low-fl
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proportion were unsure, 37% from su
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Table 4.18 Ownership and rental rat
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Figure 4.17 Submeter water bill #1
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Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
wastewater rates are not shown so t
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Figure 4.23 Hot water hybrid water
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RUBS Sample Bills Seven sample RUBS
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wastewater rates are not shown so t
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Figure 4.28 RUBS water bill #4 from
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Figure 4.30 RUBS water bill #6 RUBS
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directly to and then paid by the th
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never subtracting for common area w
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Late Fees At the start of water bil
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124
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intuitively clear, and matches comm
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Indoor water use was normalized on
Page 182 and 183:
Table 5.3 Summarized water use anal
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easonable assumption since there is
Page 186 and 187:
Figure 5.1 shows the frequency dist
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40 Difference in Annual Water Use p
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after 1995. By including only those
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70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
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Table 5.11 Statistical tests compar
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Factors that Influence Water Use Th
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Table 5.12 Association of categoric
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Indoor Water Use per Unit in 2001 I
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Table 5.13 Continuous factors from
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Multivariate Models to Determine Im
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properties built before 1995 were c
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70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
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A = Beta coefficient for “Propert
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substantially reduces the sample si
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Table 5.17 Model #2 coefficients an
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0.00 indicating that whatever fit d
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commodity charge for water and wast
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properties having generally lower w
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110 Average Annual Water Use Per Un
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analysis, intended to control best
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Table 5.27 Paired samples test, all
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Table 5.30 Estimated water use befo
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Table 5.33 Comparison of water savi
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180
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sector only reduced usage by 18% (A
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Table 6.1 Avoided costs from submet
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submetered. Complete responses of c
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included in this cost/benefit analy
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Table 6.3 Cost and benefit for owne
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Perceived Concerns In the resident
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With a service fee, residents could
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Table 6.4 Economic return for a res
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ANALYSIS OF PRICE ELASTICITIES Econ
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concluded that if a single elastici
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esults from this analysis point to
Page 256 and 257:
over which they have control than d
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According to the basic consumer cho
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The consumer choice problem can be
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210
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water systems from compliance with
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and methods of practice. NIST publi
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Table 7.1 NSUAA Summary of State Re
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New Surveys of State Agencies and W
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the AWWA WaterStats 1999 database.
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Measures, which dispatches a public
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Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania
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226 Table 7.6 Summary of utility re
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DISCUSSION - KEY EXAMPLES OF STATE
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ill. Condominium associations are g
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under construction after January 1,
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Weights and Measures Regulation In
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from the submetering. Meter testing
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clean and decent housing or the lac
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240
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NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE F
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complaints in all 50 states and app
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- Meters must demonstrate in testin
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- Plumbing systems are space constr
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(2) Twisted or kinked flex supply l
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252
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Estimated Water Use By Different Bi
Page 308 and 309:
there are clear benefits to these s
Page 310 and 311:
study site. These values were then
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immediately strengthens the owner's
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among the nation's key strategies f
Page 316 and 317:
all repair and replacement decision
Page 318 and 319:
These findings underscore the obser
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varies with volume of use) for mult
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Recommendation 6 - Efficient plumbi
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financially responsible for their o
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individual unit, the volume allocat
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARC
Page 330 and 331:
Fixed rates - Part of a master mete
Page 332 and 333:
Total-capture submetering - a type
Page 334 and 335:
282
Page 336 and 337:
Corral, L.R. 1997. Price and Non-Pr
Page 338 and 339:
McClelland, L. 1980. Encouraging En
Page 340:
Young, C.E., K.R. Kinsley and W.E.
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