Charge Systems in Europe and the United States User Charges
User charges are applied to the collection and treatment of municipal solid waste and wastewater in the public sewage systems. Virtually all developed countries apply a form of user charge for
wastewater. Some, such as Belgium and Denmark, levy user charges only on households. Others,
such as the U.K., apply the charge only to firms. Most countries, however, target both firms and
households. The most common form of user charge is a flat rate. A few countries such as Canada,
Sweden, and the U.S., supplement the flat rate with a water use charge, while others, such as France and the U.K., charge according to water use only (i.e., no basic flat rate). In a few countries, such as Finland, the U.K., and the U.S., user charges for firms are based partially on a flat rate and partially according to pollution load. Only Denmark and Germany levy a user charge according to the volume of wastewater discharged. In some countries, such as Sweden, there is cross-subsidization of households (which pay a low charge) by firms (which pay a high charge). Because in most countries the charge is not on water pollution strength, industries that reduce their water use and hence their wastewater may simply be raising the pollution load. To avert this problem the U.S. has introduced a water-pollution-strength charge, but because of high monitoring costs it is applied only to large dischargers.
User charges for solid waste collection services also exist in virtually every developed country, but only a few provide incentives for waste minimization and recycling. A flat rate charge is usually used for households and a waste-volume-based charge for firms. In Finland, a joint private-public sector chemical waste treatment firm offers its services at a user charge based on the volume and type of waste and transport distance. In the past France has had the only system that provides incentives for waste minimization: a household waste-collection charge that is based on the actual volume of waste that households and firms offer for collection and the unit service costs. Because of problems with invoicing and with the charge base, this system is being increasingly replaced by a household wastecollection tax based on property value. Thus, in the case of user charges there is a clear trade-off between incentive impact and administrative efficiency. User charge systems are generally acceptable and effective, but as structured provide little incentive for waste minimization and recycling. User charges, however, can be made to provide such incentives, if they are based on the quantity and quality of waste for large polluters and if they rely on a simpler system (e.g. wastecollection taxes) for small firms and households. Despite the unimaginative use of user charges in developed countries, the scope of user charges for solid waste collection and other public services is considerable (see sections on solid waste management in developing countries).
Access Charges (Road Pricing)
The traditional response to traffic congestion has been the building of more roads. An ever
increasing demand for road infrastructure combined with budgeting pressures has stimulated the
interest in demand management in general and in road pricing in particular. The costs of building new highways is increasingly recovered from revenues collected from road tolls, a form of user charge that serves both as a cost recovery instrument and as a traffic regulator. A major problem with toll highways, however, has been the need for drivers to stop and pay the toll, thus slowing down traffic and negating some of the congestion reduction benefits of the system. In response to this problem, automatic toll and entry fee systems have been developed in Denver, Colorado; Cambridge, England; Bergen, Oslo, and Trondheim, Norway.
Here we will briefly review the automatic toll system in Colorado. Toll highway E-470, the first hightech toll highway in the U.S., was opened in July 1991. Unlike conventional tolls, E-470 allows the cars to drive through at full speed. The toll booth automatically charges a toll to the driver's credit card by picking up electronic signals from the ID card with which his car is equipped. This toll system has the capacity to alter the charge based on the level of congestion (i.e., to charge higher tolls during rush hours) and thus to regulate and smooth out the flow of traffic. Knowing that a higher toll is charged during rush hours, drivers would tend to take alternative routes or to start earlier/later for work. Drivers with inflexible schedules or urgent business are then able to use an uncongested highway during rush hours by simply paying a higher toll or using car pools.
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