Traders tell MCWD: Defer water rate hike
A BUSINESS leader has urged the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) to defer the implementation of the doubling of the water rate for commercial customers and tripling for industrial customers, and hold a public dialogue to reach a win-win solution.
In a text message to SunStar Cebu on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, Charles Kenneth Co, president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said the chamber had not received an invitation for a dialogue.
This, despite MCWD chairman Jose Daluz III telling SunStar Cebu last Nov. 21 that the water district would meet with the officers of the business chambers to discuss the matter and inform them about the rate hike.
“There is no requirement for a public forum considering that we are just complying with the law of LWUA (Local Water Utilities Administration) on the standard of tariff rate that was not implemented by MCWD two decades ago,” Daluz told SunStar then.
Days earlier, on Nov. 18, MCWD had announced that starting Friday, Dec. 1, it would charge its commercial customers P30.40 for the first 10 cubic meters of water and industrial customers P45.60 per cubic meter.
Not transparent
However, businessmen have questioned why MCWD has not been transparent to the business community on the justification for water rate hikes.
CCCI has over 900 member companies in 40 sectors.
Co said it’s the mandate of the MCWD to develop water resources at reasonable cost.
“It’s unfair for businesses to shoulder the inefficiency of water loss and the high procurement cost from desalination,” Co said.
Earlier, on Nov. 20, Kelie Ko, president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told SunStar Cebu that the increase in water rates must be put on hold in consideration of the challenging economic situation and uncertainties.
Ko said MCWD should hold a public consultation with the affected sectors regarding the increase in water rates, adding that MCWD should prioritize improving its services and identifying sustainable water sources for efficient and effective services.
In a Viber message to SunStar Cebu on Friday night, Daluz said he would meet with the officials of the business community next week.
New water rates
Before the increase, the water district’s commercial, industrial and residential consumers were charged a uniform rate of P15.20 per cubic meter for the first 10 cubic meters of water consumed.
From 11 to 20 cubic meters, the rate was P16.80 per cubic meter. For 21 to 30 cubic meters, the rate was P19.80 per cubic meter. Beyond 30 cubic meters, the rate was P48.40 per cubic meter.
On announcing the rate hike last month, Daluz said that as per the LWUA manual, the commercial rate should be double that of the residential rate, and the industrial rate, triple that of the residential rate, but that the water district had not implemented this because two decades ago, MCWD requested an exemption from the LWUA in implementing this rate structure so that it could maintain the implementation of a uniform rate for all three consumer types—residential, commercial and industrial.
Leakage
Cebu City Budget Officer Jerone Castillo said in a press conference Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, that water rates are a sensitive issue.
“We should monitor this because the proposed increase is big,” he said in Cebuano.
According to Castillo, the increase in water rate is part of the problem that the City is trying to resolve, saying that while there is an increase in water rate, the non-revenue water is also big.
Castillo said that probably there are several water leaks which caused the significant amount of the non-revenue water.
Non-revenue water refers to produced water that is “lost” before it reaches the customers. It can occur through physical losses from leaking and broken pipes, but it also includes free water made available by MCWD for firefighting.
Some 31.8 percent of the water produced by MCWD is non-revenue water.
Castillo said that based on the observation of the Commission on Audit, the non-revenue water of MCWD for three years has been beyond the 20 percent threshold.