Apă-Canal Chișinău requests a 37.5% increase in tariffs for water supply and sewerage services.
The company sent a corresponding request to the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE). According to the company's request, the average tariff for the supply of drinking water is proposed to be increased from 16.15 to 22.22 lei per cubic meter. In particular, the tariff for drinking water supply in Chisinau - from 10.79 to 14.1 lei, for technological water supply - from 8.11 to 8.5 lei, for sewerage services - from 5.51 to 8.41 lei on average. The company explains the increase of tariffs by the need to cover the expenses for the renovation and development of infrastructure. The current tariff does not allow covering the expenses for reagents used for water and wastewater treatment, as well as the expenses for natural gas. The company's expenses have also increased due to the increase in the guaranteed minimum wage and other personnel benefits. Thus, while in 2023 the expenses amounted to 349.7 million lei, in 2024, according to the project, they will amount to 419.7 million lei, while the updated budget envisages 428 million lei. Also, the adjustment of the methodology has led to the fact that the company cannot cover all the expenses for heat energy, infrastructure works, and cleaning services. Apă-Canal Chișinău also refers to discrepancies in the calculation of tariff deviations in the methodologies applied in 2020-2023, which the company estimates at almost 153 million lei, while its losses exceed 373 million lei. It is worth mentioning that the last time the tariffs for water supply and sewerage services in Chisinau were changed on October 10, 2023. At that time, a single tariff for public drinking water supply services for all consumers was approved in the amount of 10.79 lei per cubic meter, which is 0.33 lei per cubic meter (3%) lower than the previous tariff for household consumers and 18.8% lower than the previous tariff for non-household consumers. Tariff for public service of technological water supply - 8.11 lei per cubic meter; for public sewerage and wastewater treatment services: for household consumers - 4.18 lei/cubic meter; for non-household consumers - 10.16 lei/cubic meter. // 10.06.2024 - InfoMarket.
