private water companies have collected and published for the first time indicators about their performance in 2008. A decree of May 2007 requires public service providers to provide the same information on service quality to the public that has been provided by private service providers, beginning in 2008. Financial aspects Tariffs Water and sanitation tariffs in France vary substantially from one service provider to the other. The six French public water agencies regularly publish the results of water tariff surveys (Observatoires de Prix) that they carry out among service providers in the respective areas they cover comparting tariff levels. According to a 2003 study by the French Supreme Audit Agency (Cour des Comptes), the complexity of water tariffs makes them difficult to understand for users despite efforts to improve the presentation of water bills. The agency also states that flat-rate tariffs that are not linked to consumption levels still persist, although the 1992 water law aimed at linking water tariffs to consumption. International comparison of tariff level According to a study by NUS consulting, in 2007 the average residential water and sanitation tariff for the five largest cities in France was €2.92 per cubic meter for a consumption of 120 cubic meters per connection and year. This was lower than the average of 11 EU countries in the same year, which was €3.25 per cubic meter. According to the same study tariffs were highest in Denmark (€5.63/m3) and Germany (€5.09/m3). However, for commercial tariffs the picture is somewhat different. According to another study by NUS consulting the average water tariff (without sanitation) in France for a consumption of 10,000 cubic meters pere year was the equivalent of US$1.58, the 5th most expensive out of the 14 countries considered in the study. In the 14 mainly OECD countries tariffs excluding VAT varied between US$0.66 per cubic meter in the United States and the equivalent of US$2.25 per cubic meter in Denmark. According to a study commissioned by the German water industry association BGW in 2006, the picture is again somewhat different. This study does not compare tariffs per cubic meter, but average water bills. The average annual per capita water bill was 85 Euro in France, the same as in Germany (85 Euro), higher than in Italy (59 Euro) and lower than in England and Wales (95 Euro). Comparison of annual water and sanitation bills per capita in four EU countries