Water rate rises - Consumers to pay 28 per cent more
published:
Tuesday | April 29, 2008
Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter
Consumers will have to pay 28 per cent more on their water bills.
The National Water Commission (NWC) yesterday announced a 23 per cent rate hike, plus a further five per cent charge for the newly introduced K-factor programme. This means an additional $200 for most households.
K-factor
The K-factor, according to the OUR, will be in place to fund capital projects that would not generate a significant increase in revenues.
It will also incorporate provisions for the rehabilitation of wastewater treatment plants to meet the enhanced regulatory standards imposed by the National Environment and Planning Agency.
But the NWC is disappointed with the regulatory body's adjustment, saying it needed at least a 44 per cent hike to better serve its customers.
With a projected shortfall of approximately $2.4 billion, the water suppliers were banking on a 44 per cent increase in the tariff to be bailed out of its financial troubles.
However, the OUR said it determined that a 23 per cent increase or $10.5 billion more in operating revenues would be enough to offset that shortfall.
In expressing dissatisfaction, the NWC further cited the enormous increases in costs since the last tariff adjustment in 2004 and a deteriorating infrastructure.
"Unfortunately, the OUR's determination for granting a 23 per cent increase in tariffs while also imposing increasingly stringent conditions of service will have the effect of preventing the commission from undertaking all the improved projects that were proposed in our request for the tariff increase," the NWC said in a release yesterday afternoon.
The OUR further said that after a review of the company's revenue, it found that the NWC had failed to meet several of its performance targets.
More stringent rules
This has led the regulatory body to impose more stringent rules in its guaranteed standards for the NWC, including a penalty for wrongful disconnection and a reduced time span for reconnection of service and meter change.
Meanwhile, customers are concerned about whether they would be able to absorb this latest increase.
"I don't know how we are going to survive, is only by the grace of God that we are going to make it through," Evelyn Morgan, a resident of Spanish Town, St Catherine, told The Gleaner yesterday.
athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com
Conserving water
A typical single-family home in Jamaica uses between 3,000 and 5,000 gallons of treated water per month.
There are FOUR basic ways to save water:
Economise - Be conscious of the amount of water you utilise and use less whenever you can.
Fix leaks - A leak of merely one drop per second wastes 2,400 gallons per year.
Use water-saving devices - These include aerators, flow regulators and displacement devices.
Reuse water - Used water, such as that from the kitchen sink and the washstand, is often suitable for other purposes.
