Economic incentives for military housing residents to conserve utilities

Abstract

The literature reviewed provides strong evidence that individually metering resident utilities provides an estimated 10 to 35 percent utility reductions simply by providing a financial incentive for tenants to conserve utilities. The two key aspects of individual metering are, the financial incentives for tenants to conserve utilities and the ability to hold tenants responsible for consumed utilities through accurate utility meter readings. The five alternatives for the conservation of utilities in military housing proposed by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Installations and Housing) are reevaluated in this thesis. When evaluated from the tenants' perspective, the cost effectiveness prioritization of the five proposed DoD alternatives is reversed. DoD chose building and equipment improvement as the most cost effective way to conserve utilities, but this alternative is only a half measure which ignores economic incentives for the tenants to conserve utilities.