MANILA, Philippines – Water concessionaires, Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Company Inc. will slash rates in the first quarter of 2021 following the approval of a quarterly adjustment for the water distribution utilities, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) announced Wednesday.
The MWSS Regulatory Office (RO) said that the MWSS Board of Trustees has approved its recommendation to implement the 2021 first quarter foreign currency differential adjustment (FCDA) effective January 1, 2021, ”based on its evaluation of the FCDA proposals of the concessionaires.
The FCDA is a quarterly-reviewed tariff mechanism that allows concessionaires to recover losses or give back gains arising from fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, as payments are made for foreign currency-denominated loans that are used to fund the expansion and improvement of water and sewerage services.
It is a corrective mechanism formulated by the MWSS RO to avoid under recovery or over recovery caused by forex movements.
The MWSS RO said east zone concessionaire Manila Water will implement an FCDA of 0.66% of its 2021 Average Basic Charge of P28.52 per cubic meter or P0.19 per cubic meter.
“This is a downward adjustment of P0.14 per cubic meter from the previous FCDA of P0.33 per cubic meter,” the agency said in a statement.
This translates to a decrease of P0.76 per month for Manila Water’s residential customers consuming 10 cubic meters or less, except lifeline customers who are exempt from the quarterly FCDA charges.
Those consuming 20 cubic meters per month and 30 cubic meters per month are expected to have their bills go down by P1.69 and P3.45, respectively.
West zone concessionaire Maynilad, meanwhile, will apply an FCDA of negative 0.39% of its 2021 Average Basic Charge of P36.24 per cubic meter or negative P0.14 per cubic meter.
“This is also a downward adjustment of P0.05 per cubic meter from the previous FCDA of negative P0.09 per cubic meter,” the MWSS RO said.
This would mean a P0.05 decrease in the monthly bill of Maynilad’s residential customers consuming 10 cubic meters or less.
Those consuming 20 cubic meters per month and 30 cubic meters per month are expected to have a decrease of P0.64 and P1.30, respectively on their bills this coming quarter.
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