Tariffs for water supply and sewerage services for residential consumers of Chisinau municipality were increased by 41.3%.
The National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) approved new tariffs of Apă-Canal Chișinău (ACC) for water supply and sewerage services for domestic and non-domestic consumers. They will take effect after the publication of the relevant decision in Monitorul Oficial (the Official Journal of Moldova). In particular, for domestic consumers, the ACC tariff for drinking water supply was increased from 8.65 to 11.12 lei per cubic meter, and for sewage and wastewater treatment - from 2.04 to 4.18 lei per cubic meter. Thus, the final tariff for water supply and sewerage for the population will increase from 10.69 to 15.3 lei per cubic meter (+41.3%). At the same time, for non-domestic consumers, the tariffs for drinking water supply and sewerage are maintained at the current level - 13.29 and, respectively, 11.17 lei per cubic meter (the final tariff - 24.46 lei). Supplies to domestic consumers are not subject to VAT, while supplies to non-domestic consumers are subject to the standard rate. Apă-Canal Chișinău noted that the adjustment of the tariff was necessitated by an 87.9% increase in the regulated prices for electricity (from 1.82 to 3.42 lei/kWh) and an increase in expenses for consumed electricity; an almost 4-fold increase in prices for reagents used for wastewater treatment; an increase in regulated prices for natural gas and heating, which the operator uses; an increase in the national minimum wage to 4 thousand lei. Given the disagreement with the Chisinau City Council, which approved interim tariffs in November, ANRE stressed: according to the legislation, the tariffs for drinking water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment services provided by operators at district, municipality and city levels are set according to the Methodology for determining, approving and applying tariffs for public water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment services and are approved by the agency. As reported earlier, the interim tariffs approved by the Chisinau City Council were much higher than those approved by ANRE: the final tariff for water supply and sanitation for households was increased from 10.69 to 22.94 lei per cubic meter (2.1-fold increase), while for non-household consumers - from 24.46 to 26.56 lei (+8.6%). However, ANRE called this decision of the Chisinau Municipal Council illegal. // 11.01.2023 - InfoMarket.
