Water rates of the Manila Water Co. Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. are expected to go down starting April, a trend that will continue until the second half of the year if the Philippine peso keeps its positive momentum against other foreign currencies.
Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Chief Regulator Atty. Patrick Lester N. Ty said the MWSS-Regulatory Office approved on Thursday the lower Foreign Currency Differential Adjustment rates for the second quarter of the year.
Approved every quarter, the FCDA is a tariff mechanism granted to water concessionaires to allow them to recover losses or give back gains arising from the fluctuating movements of the peso against other currencies.
This, since utilities have to pay foreign-dominated concession fees to MWSS, as well as dollar-denominated loans, which they use to fund their projects.
For the second quarter, the overall FCDA rate for Maynilad would go down to P0.07 per cubic meter. This translates to a reduction of P0.20 in the monthly billing of Maynilad customers consuming 10 cubic meters a month; P0.75 to those consuming 20 cubic meters; and P1.54 to those consuming 30 cubic meters.
Manila Water, on the other hand, will have a lower FCDA rate of P0.31 per cubic meters.
For average users consuming 10 cubic meters or less, there will be a reduction of P1.21 per cubic meters in their monthly billing. A rollback of P2.69 will reflect on the billing of those consuming 20 cubic meters and P5.49 for those consuming 30 cubic meters.
The rates will be reflected in the April, May, and June monthly billing of Maynilad and Manila Water customers.
Ty said the rates could further go down in the third quarter if the Philippine peso continues to appreciate versus the dollar. “If the economy keeps on improving, there will be further rollbacks. If the peso continues to appreciate versus the US dollar and Japanese yen, there will be further rollbacks,” Ty said.
Even if the FCDA was supposed to be lower this quarter, the MWSS still approved higher rates adjustment for January, February, and March because of inflation.
For January up to this month, Maynilad was allowed to increase its rates up to P1.48 per cubic meters while MWSS approved a net upward adjustment of P0.64 per cubic meters for Manila Water.
Because of inflation, Maynilad’s rate increase was supposed to be around P1.95 per cubic meter but this was reduced because of the P0.47-decrease in the FCDA.
Manila Water was supposed to have an upward adjustment of P1.54 per cubic meter but this was also reduced by the lower FCDA rate of P0.90 per cubic meters. (Madeleine Miraflor)