Apa Nova says the planned increase in tariffs is due to the decline in water sales volumes by some 27 million cubic meters between 2008 and 2013.
“This is due to the natural decline in consumption from 180 liters/person/day in 2008 to 150 liters/person/day in 2013, on the one hand, and to the increase of consumption of well water. Consumption in Europe stands at some 110 liters/person/day,” Apa Nova says.
The company had previously raised rates by 16% in March 2013.
One cubic meter of water cost RON3.23, VAT included, in Bucharest in 2011, but starting January 1, 2014, it will cost RON5.61 (VAT not included) or RON6.95 (including VAT). In other words, drinking water prices more than doubled in two years.
Water, sewerage and sanitation rates have seen some of the highest increases after the fall of the communist regime in 1989: whereas the inflation rate was 375,288%, they went up by more than 37,000 times in 1990-2011, according to a prior analysis by Mediafax.
Apa Nova operates the public water supply and sewerage system in Bucharest, under a 25-year concession contract it got in 2000. It posted some EUR150 million revenue and EUR26.5 million net profit last year, according to Finance Ministry data. (EUR1=RON4.4756)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)