Water tariff in the city might go up by 30 to 40 per cent for different categories of consumers if the government accepts the fresh proposal submitted by the Water Board.
An increase in the base rate for domestic, commercial and industrial consumers and proportionate rise in the next slab is recommended by the committee of secretaries which re-examined the proposal recently submitted to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
At present the base rate for all the three categories is just Rs. 6 up to 15 kl.
While chairing the Board's meeting, the Chief Minister asked officials to re-examine the tariff hike proposal and come back to him within a week. The other day Principal Secretary (Finance) V. Bhaskar, Principal Secretary (MA&UD) Sam Bob and Water Board Managing Director Adhar Sinha reviewed the proposal and suggested rationalisation of the tariff structure for different categories. They also made out a strong case for tariff revision.
Last hike in 2002
The last comprehensive tariff hike was effected in 2002 after a gap of nine years. Since then other public utilities have raised their charges two to three times. The APCPDCL increased its tariff four times, the APSRTC twice and so is the A.P. Dairy Development Cooperative Federation. Moreover, metro water boards in Delhi and Bangalore too have hiked their tariffs.
The proposed revision, officials point out, is only to meet the additional expenditure incurred by the Board due to increase in power charges and transportation cost.
“We will not be making any profits. The revision will only help us not suffer any losses during the day-to-day operations,” said Mr. Adhar Sinha.
Micro-level planning
The Board has decided to go for micro-level planning to improve its finances so as to bridge the rising cost of maintenance. Mounting power consumption charges are putting a heavy burden on the Board's finances. As against the monthly revenue of Rs. 36.50 crore, its expenditure is of the order of Rs. 52.50 crore. Of this the power charges alone are Rs. 24 crore.
Payment of salaries accounts for Rs. 16 crore and loan repayment Rs. 6 crore. To add to the Board's woes it has outstanding dues of Rs. 187 crore from various government departments and organisations. Tariff revision, officials say, is inevitable if the mismatch between revenue and expenditure is to go.
