FILE PHOTO | Courtesy of MCWD
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Amid rising inflation, consumers in Metro Cebu may be facing the next two years with costlier water consumption bills.
This as the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) plans to impose an increase in the price of water consumed per cubic meter.
In a press statement, MCWD announced that they were considering adjusting current water consumption rates, ‘in order to sustain its operations’, starting next year.
They are proposing for the new, water rate to be at P25.05 per cubic meter.
It is P9.85 more compared to the current rate of P15.20 per cubic meter, and translating to an increase of roughly 65 percent.
If this pushes through, MCWD is expected to implement the adjusted water rates in two phases — in July 2023 and in July 2024.
Households using up to 21 cubic meters of water per month can expect their utility bill to rise from P430.99 to P561.90 this 2023. By 2024, this will further jump to P617.36.
Minimal
MCWD justified that the increase they were seeking in water consumption rates was ‘only minimal’.
“MCWD’s water is potable and is sold at about P.040 per liter. Despite being the most important commodity, it remains the cheapest as compared to other household utilities like electricity at P13 per kwH, cellphone load at P600 per month, Internet bill at P1,200 per month or bottled water at P20 per liter,” they said.
Lawyer Jose Daluz III, chairperson of MCWD, said the utility firm needed to inject fresh funds to cover operational costs, among others.
These included upgrading their existing facilities and expansion projects such as the P1.1-billion Lusaran Bulk Water Project which is expected to start supplying consumers in Metro Cebu by September 4 this year.
“We really need this adjustment in order to continue with our operation. We are not profit-oriented. This is only for us to continue operating and serving our consumers,” Daluz said.
MCWD disclosed they incurred a total of P14.1 billion in operational costs since 2015.
Aside from operational costs, they also pointed out that they need to cover the expenses they incurred on other factors such as suspension of water service disconnection and partial payment of bill arrears during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“MCWD has not implemented an adjustment in its water rates (for the past seven years), and has been absorbing the increasing operational expenses and purchased water costs ranging from P25 to P32 per cubic meter,” they added.
MCWD covers the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay, and the towns of Liloan, Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova.
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