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Ewura rejects water charges hike proposal
2008-04-14 09:46:06
By Lydia Shekighenda, Dodoma
The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) yesterday threw out a proposal made by the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (Dawasa) to increase water charges by 22 per cent and 18.5 per cent for sewerage services respectively.
Speaking at a news conference here, Ewura Director General Haruna Masebu said although Dawasa had correctly computed the applied tariffs, his authority had determined that the application was both unreasonable and not enforceable.
He said according to Ewura`s findings, the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (Dawasco) could meet its planned expenditure for the 2007/8 financial year with a surplus of 2.78bn/-, equivalent to 8.06 per cent.
He said the lease agreement empowered Dawasa to review both the operator`s tariffs and the indexation formula so as to ensure that it presented the actual cost changes and took into account the fluctuations and trends in economic and technical conditions.
``Dawasa`s inaction does not encourage the operator to improve its efficiency. EWURA thus finds that an increase to the existing tariff, which already produces a surplus, is unreasonable,`` he said.
He said Ewura, in its July 2006 directive to Dawasa, had stated that failure in meeting performance targets as specified in the lease agreement should be considered in evaluating the reasonableness of all future requests for charge adjustments.
Masebu said Dawasco had failed to meet key performance targets and no corresponding action was taken by Dawasa in line with the lease of agreement.
He said the lease agreement required the operator to charge non-metered customers based on current assessment of consumption but the submitted non-metered assessed consumption was conducted before July 2006.
``Such information may misrepresent the present consumption, thus provoke inappropriate flat rate charges in the respective areas,`` he said.
Masebu said Dawasco would attain a surplus if it would concentrate on collecting all outstanding debts, rather than hike charges that would burden loyal customers.
He said Ewura`s decision was based on concerns raised during the public hearing, the consumer consultative council and the government`s consultative council meetings.
He said stakeholders felt that a tariff increase was unjustified as water supply was not available except for a few consumers, with non- metered customers often paying for services that were not provided.
Early this year, Dawasa presented a proposal to Ewura for a 22 percent tariff hike for water supply and 18.5 per cent for sewerage services.
Meanwhile, Ewura has allowed the Dodoma Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Duwasa) to adjust water charges by 11 per cent. Duwasa had proposed a 58 per cent hike.
Early this year, Duwasa presented a proposal to increase tariffs for water supply and sewerage services by 58 per cent.
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