Manila Water, Maynilad to slash water rates effective January 2021

Customers of water concessionaires Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Company Inc. will expect lower water bills in the first three months of 2021 as the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) approved a quarterly adjustment for the water distribution utilities.

The MWSS Regulatory Office (RO) on Wednesday announced 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 mechanism that accounts for foreign exchange losses or gains arising from the loans of MWSS and private sector concessionaires for capital expenditures and concession fees.

It is a corrective mechanism formulated by the MWSS to avoid under recovery or over recovery caused by forex movements.

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 MWSS said.

The adjustment 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.”

Meanwhile, 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, on the other hand, will apply an FCDA of negative 0.39% of its 2021 average basic charge of P36.24 per cubic meter or -P0.14 per cubic meter.

“This is also a downward adjustment of P0.05 per cubic meter from the previous FCDA of -P0.09 per cubic meter,” the MWSS said.

With this, Maynilad residential customers consuming 10 cubic meters or less are expected to see their monthly bills go down by P0.05.

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.—AOL, GMA News