Customers of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) consumers will pay more for their water bills starting January next year.
By that time, the MCWD will implement a 12 percent water rate increase after their proposed rate adjustments were approved by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).
This means an additional P1.60 per cubic meter to the current rate of P13.60 for consumers with not more than 10 cubic meters of monthly consumption.
For those consuming 11 to 20 cubic meters a month, they will pay P16.80 per cubic meter from the current P15. Those with a monthly consumption of 21 to 30 cubic meters will pay P19.77 instead of the current P17.65 per cubic meter.
“Even with the 12 percent increase, the first three brackets are still heavily subsidized,” MCWD General Manager Ernie Delco said. He said the actual cost of water is P22 per cubic meter.
Large consumers, which are usually commercial establishments, will still be paying P48.40 per cubic meter if their monthly consumption is 31 cubic meters or higher.
But Delco said the increased water rates will be reflected in the consumers’ February bill.
In 2005, the MCWD asked for a yearly 12 percent increase for five years from 2005 to 2009. But they only implemented the increase in 2005 and 2006.
“Despite having no increase for the last eight years, we did our best in terms of production capacity and more service connections,” Delco added.
Based on MCWD data, production capacity increased by 41,803 cubic meters per day from 166,120 in 2006 to 207,923 in 2013. In terms of pipelines, MCWD has covered 180 kilometers more from 766km in 2006 to 946 km in 2013.
MCWD also recorded 36,991 new service connections in the last eight years and demand coverage also increased to 43 percent from 34 percent in 2006.
“This is just a temporary adjustment. In the future, I can guarantee that the adjustment of water will increase for those with high water consumption. For the rest, with less consumption, it will go down until it will become free. This is our vision,” MCWD Board Chairman Rene Mercado said.
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