Water rates to go down in october

THE Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has approved the 4th quarter foreign currency differential adjustment (FCDA) effective October 1.

Under the FCDA, which was recommended by the MWSS Regulatory Office, the Manila Water Co. Inc. (MWCI) will implement a rollback of P0.33 per cubic meter.

This is a reduction of 1.17 percent from the company’s 2020 average basic charge of P28.52 per cubic meter.

FCDA is a mechanism that allows the private water concessionaires of the MWSS to recover losses or give back gains arising from fluctuations in the foreign exchange rates.

It is a corrective mechanism formulated by the MWSS RO to avoid under-recovery or over-recovery caused by foreign exchange movements, the mechanism is done quarterly. The previous adjustment was P0.48 per cu. m.

MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Ty said MWCI residential customers consuming 10 cubic meters or less, except lifeline customers who are exempt from the quarterly FCDA charges, will see a decline of P0.78 per month on their bills.

Meanwhile, those consuming 20 cubic meters per month and 30 cubic meters per month will see their bills go down by P1.73 and P3.52, respectively.

Meanwhile, Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI), which serves the West Zone concession area, will apply an FCDA of negative 0.26 percent of its 2020 Average Basic Charge of P36.24 per cubic meter or negative P0.09 per cubic meter.

This is also a downward adjustment of P0.01 per cubic meter from the previous FCDA of negative P0.08 per cubic meter.

The water bills of MWSI residential customers consuming 10 cubic meters or less are expected to go down by P0.06. Those consuming 20 cubic meters per month and 30 cubic meters per month can expect their bills to decline by P0.24 and P0.50, respectively.