Water rates of Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Company Inc. will increase further starting next month after the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System approved the fourth quarter foreign currency differential adjustments of both companies.
The increase in water tariff for Maynilad customers is due to an upward adjustment in the FCDA by P0.11 per cubic meter from the previous quarter following the depreciation of the Philippine peso.
The adjustment for Maynilad customers is equivalent to 1.09 percent of the average basic charge of P34.51 per cubic meter, or P0.38 per cu.m.
Maynilad customers consuming 10 cubic meters or less every month will see their water bill increase by P0.34 from P118.61 to P118.95, while those consuming 20 cubic meters every month will see their water bill rise from P444.29 to P445.56, a difference of P1.54.
Households consuming 30 cubic meters a month will note an increase of P2.60 in their water bill from the current P906.94 to P909.54.
Manila Water customers, meanwhile, will have an FCDA of P0.24.
Manila Water customers who consume up to 10 cu.m. per month will have an increase of P1.22 while those consuming an average of 20 cu.m. will have a P2.72 adjustment in their bill.
MWSS said customers will have an increase of P5.55 per month for those consuming 30 cubic meters.
The concession agreements of Manila Water and Maynilad with MWSS provides the FCDA as a tariff mechanism to recover or compensate for fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
The foreign currency adjustment follows the decision of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City ordering the immediate implementation of Maynilad’s final award in an arbitration case.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp., parent company of Maynilad, said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that the Regional Trial Court Branch 93 of Quezon City in a decision dated August 30 granted its petition to enforce the arbitration award following the refusal of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System to implement it.
The final award upheld the 13.41 percent rebasing adjustment that Maynilad proposed from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017.
Metro Pacific said once the RTC decision becomes final and executory, Maynilad’s 2017 average basic charge would increase by 9.89 percent, or an average of P3.41 percent per cubic meter of the 2017 average basic charge of P34.51 per cubic meter.