A town council used to run household waste collection itself and set its charge to cover its costs. It then sold the service to a private firm. Three years after the sale, the firm is still the only provider of waste collection in the town. The table shows average annual figures before and three years after the sale.
| Period | Average operating cost per household | Average charge paid by each household |
|---|---|---|
| Before the sale | £92 | £92 |
| Three years after the sale | £74 | £104 |
Using the information, explain how the sale affected the provider's efficiency and households.
104 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE Economics 2.3 How the government manages the economy, covering 2.3.1a Fiscal policy and income and expenditure, 2.3.1b Fiscal policy and government objectives, 2.3.1c The government budget, 2.3.2a The meaning of monetary policy, 2.3.2b Uses of monetary policy, 2.3.3a Supply-side policies and their trade-offs, 2.3.3b Using supply-side policies, and 2.3.4 Policies to correct positive and negative externalities. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.