Metro Manila to get reprieve from water rate hike

Metro Manila residents will most probably get a 15-day reprieve from the scheduled July 1 water rate hike since the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the metropolis’ two water concessionaries continue to argue as to how much the increase should be.

The deadlock remained unbroken despite last week’s second board meeting that was supposed to end in a resolution formally increasing water rates next month. Distributors Manila Water Company (MWC) and Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI) are asking a hike of P1 and P6 per cubic meter of water for their respective sectors.

"I supposed so. The effectivity of the water rate hikes would also have to be deferred," confirmed MWSS deputy administrator Macra Cruz when asked by The STAR on the effects of the delay. Under the 1997 law that privatized MWSS’s water distribution services, there should be a 15-day grace period before any rate increase takes effect.

MWSS regulatory office chief Ed Santos said the concessionaires made their presentations last June 19, in a bid to convince the nine-man MWSS board to approve their proposal. Santos said they later presented their own computation.

In an earlier interview, Cruz said their computation of the rate hike for July would be "far less" than what concessionaires are asking. Cruz refused to give the exact amount of their computation, however.

The MWSS first held its board meeting on June 14 for the purpose of coming out with the new rate increase, in time for July, but this was reset last June 19. But during the June 19 board meeting, the MWSS failed to come out with a resolution.

Cruz had admitted that the MWSS is worried of the potential public outcry the new round of water increase could cause amid the fiasco over electricity’s purchased power adjustment. But the July increase is actually the third installment of a staggered rate hike approved as early as October last year.

The MWSS board is expected to meet again in the middle of this week to finally determine the new rate hike. The board, however, reportedly has only seven members at the moment as two others are on leave.

Represented in the MWSS board are the Department of Finance, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, and the Department of Public Works and Highways, among others.