MCWD set to implement in April purchased water adjustment fee

Starting April 1, the Metro Cebu Water District will implement the Purchased Water Adjustment fee or PWA, which would enable the water firm to adjust its rates.

However, MCWD clarified that the implementation of the PWA does not mean the water utility will increase its water rates because PWA is flexible and may go up or down, depending on the price of water that it gets from its bulk water suppliers.

Tertuliana Andaya, MCWD spokeswoman, explained that like the Purchased Power Adjustment or PPA in the power sector, PWA is their way of recovering the cost of water the suppliers provide them. It is separate from the monthly water bill, franchise tax and power cost adjustment currently billed to water consumers.

According to Andaya, the new scheme was introduced to their concessionaires last year when they conducted public hearings for the adjustment in their rates. It is also approved by the Local Water Utilities Administration for implementation.

At present, MCWD's bulk water suppliers are Mactan Rock Industries, Inc.; Abejo Builders Corporation/Watcon Inc.; and Foremost Water System Inc. They supply a combined 15,000-cubic-meter of water to the water district a day.

MCWD contracted to buy through a public bidding at a base price of P17 per cubic meter of water from Mactan Rock Industries Inc.; P19 per cubic meter from Foremost Water Systems Inc.; and P18.18 per cubic meter from Abejo Builders Corporation.

"Actually we don't know how much the adjustment would be because it (PWA) would depend on the price of water that our suppliers give us and it would also depend on the consumption of the consumers," Andaya said. She added that the PWA would be reflected in the water bills of the consumers.

With the impending implementation of another 12 percent increase in the water rates of MCWD, Lito Vasquez, secretary general of Freedom from Debt Coalition said that consumers are to expect higher water rates in the coming months.

Earlier, MCWD general manager Armando Paredes said that they are supposed to implement the 12 percent increase in their rates last January but they deferred it due to the implementation of the franchise tax, which is also being passed on to the water consumers.

However, Paredes said that they might impose the 12-percent hike in their rates by the second or third quarter of this year to recover their losses. - Wenna A. Berondo