Manila Water rates up, Maynilad down next month

MANILA, Philippines — Customers of Manila Water Co. will experience higher water bills starting next month while those serviced by Maynilad Water Services can expect a decrease after government regulators approved their respective tariff adjustments.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said its Board of Trustees approved the foreign currency differential adjustment (FCDA) for its two concessionaires for the fourth quarter, which would take effect on Oct. 1.

Based on the approved FCDA, MWSS said there would be a tariff increase for Manila Water and a decrease for Maynilad customers.

Manila Water, which services the east zone, would implement an upward FCDA of 2.03 percent or about P0.86 per cubic meter.

Maynilad, the government’s west zone concessionaire, will apply a downward adjustment of 0.62 percent, equivalent to P0.29 per cubic meter.

MWSS chief regulator Patrick Ty attributed the mixed adjustments for the two concessionaires to the different movements in the exchange rate for US dollar and Japanese yen.

“Peso devalued compared to dollars, that is why there is an increase for Manila Water customers. But for Maynilad, they had yen-denominated loans so they will have a rollback because the peso appreciated compared to yen,” Ty said yesterday.

Manila Water customers consuming an average of 10 cubic meters or less every month would see an increase of P3.65 in their bills while those consuming an average of 20 cubic meters would see an upward adjustment of P8.10.

In addition, customers using 30 cu.m. can expect an increase of P16.54 per month.

Meanwhile, Maynilad customers consuming 10 cubic meters or less would see their bills decreasing by P0.83 while those consuming 20 cubic meters would get a P3.14 reduction. Those with an average consumption of 30 cubic meters monthly would have a decrease of P6.43.

In a separate statement, Manila Water said its tariff adjustment would translate to an average increase of P0.88 per cubic meter, but clarified that the FCDA would not have an impact on its net income.

“The FCDA is a pass-through charge to account for foreign exchange losses or gains arising from the company’s payments of specific concession loans identified in the Amended RCA (revised concession agreement),” Manila Water said.

The FCDA is a quarterly reviewed tariff mechanism that allows government concessionaires to recover losses or give back gains arising from fluctuations in foreign exchange rates in the payments they made for foreign currency-denominated loans used to fund the improvement of their services.

Under the RCAs, the FCDA would only be applied on the MWSS loans that are being or will be serviced by the concessionaires and principal payments for drawn and undrawn amounts for foreign currency denominated loans existing as of June 29, 2022.