Manila Water to reduce rates in October

Manila Water Co. announced yesterday it would reduce its tariff rates effective Oct. 7 following the continuous strengthening of the peso against the US dollar.

The foreign currency differential adjusment (FCDA) component of the water bills will be reduced by an average of 8 centavos per cubic meter from 24 centavos to 16 centavos per cubic meter. It is equivalent only to 1.10 percent of the basic charge.

The FCDA is a mechanism which allows water concessionaires like Manila Water to recover their foreign currency losses due to payments of concession fees and foreign currency-denominated borrowings. FCDA is adjusted quarterly, which goes up or down, depending on the strength of the peso.

This means that an ordinary household in the East Zone consuming an average of 30 cubic meters per month will have a reduction of about P1.40 in their monthly bills. Families from low-income communities consuming 10 cubic meter per month will have a 30-centavo reduction in their monthly bills while commercial customers consuming around 1,000 cubic meters monthly will have a monthly reduction of about P143 in their water bills.

The slight reduction comes in the heels of the P2-billion loan that Manila Water recently secured from a syndicate of local and foreign banks.

Over the past nine years, the Ayala-led Manila Water has improved its operating efficiency by investing over P19 billion on service improvement and expansion programs. System losses have been reduced to 30.2 percent from a high of 63 percent in 1997, while making water available 24 hours a day from 26 percent in 1997 to 97 percent in its central distribution system. It has also more than doubled the volume of potable water delivered to its nearly 5.3 million residents in the East Zone from 440mld to 938mld by the middle of this year.

The first phase of the P2-billion Antipolo Water Supply Project will be operational by the end of 2006 and will initially benefit over 7,000 households or over 42,000 residents in Antipolo.

Manila Water provides water and wastewater services to more than 5.3 million in the East Zone which covers Manila (San Andres and Sta. Ana only), Quezon City (east of San Juan River, West Avenue, EDSA, Congressional and Mindanao Avenues, Districts of Tandang Sora, Pasong Tamo and Matandang Balara), Makati City (east of South Super Highway), Mandaluyong City, San Juan, Marikina City, Pasig City, Pateros, Taguig-all in Metro Manila and the entire Rizal province.