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Customers of east zone concessionaire Manila Water Company Inc. should expect higher water bills beginning April after the Waterworks and Sewerage System Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO) approved an upward adjustment in the distribution utility’s tariff mechanism for the second quarter of 2025. At a press conference in Quezon City Thursday, MWSS-RO chief regulator Patrick Lester Ty announced the approval of Manila Water’s proposed Foreign Currency Differential Adjustment (FCDA) for the April to June 2025 period.
The agency approved a P0.04 per cubic meter hike in Manila Water’s FCDA to P0.65 per cubic meter from P0.
61 per cubic meter rate in the first quarter of 2025. The adjustment would translate to an increase of P0.21 per month in the bills of those consuming 10 cubic meters, P0.
45 increase for those using 20 cubic meters in a month, and P0.90 for those consuming 30 cubic meters. The FCDA is a quarterly-reviewed tariff mechanism that allows water 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 foreign exchange movements. “The concessionaires will not earn any income on the FCDA. This adjustment, based on the foreign currency exchange fluctuations, is purely a pass on amount,” Ty said.
Manila Water provides water and wastewater services to residents of the cities of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, San Juan, Taguig, and Marikina; and Municipality of Pateros. It is also in charge of the southeastern parts of Quezon City, and Sta. Ana and San Andres in the City of Manila.
In the province of Rizal, it services the city of Antipolo, and municipalities of San Mateo, Rodriguez, Cainta, Taytay, Teresa, Angono, Baras, Binangonan, Jalajala, Cardona, Morong, Pilillia, and Tanay. Ty said that water bills are also expected to go up during the summer months amid the increase of consumption to cool down amid extreme heat. “The more you consume water, the more expensive the water will be.
.. sometimes if you consume just less than 20 cubic meters before the summer season, but because of the heat, you consume more,” he said.
—AOL, GMA Integrated News.
