East zone concessionaire Manila Water Co. will raise its water bills starting in October due to the recently approved Foreign Currency Differential Adjustment (FCDA).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, Sept. 16, Manila Water said consumers will experience a rate increase of P0.88 per cubic meter starting next month, following the upward FCDA of 2.03 percent.

Dittie Galang, Manila Water’s corporate communications head, explained that this adjustment would apply to the fourth quarter of 2024, as the marginal hike would last from October to December.

“Lifeline customers will not be affected by the FCDA. [But] for households consuming 30 cubic meters per month, there will be a P16.55 increase in their bill,” Dittie told Manila Bulletin.

Additionally, residents consuming the regular ten cubic meters or less will have a P3.65 increase, while those who consume 20 cubic meters will experience a P8.10 hike.

“Water and wastewater services remain at the same high quality in light of this FCDA mechanism as [it] is merely a pass-through charge and will have no impact on the concessionaires’ revenues,” she added.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) approved the tariff adjustments as this would allow water concessionaires to recover or return gains due to foreign currency changes.

MWSS chief regulator Patrick Lester Ty stated that “It is a corrective mechanism formulated by the MWSS RO to avoid under-recovery or over-recovery caused by forex movements.”

Meanwhile, the west zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. will drop its average basic charge by P0.29 per cubic meter. This means that Maynilad would have a downward FCDA of -0.62 percent.

Low-income lifeline consumers won’t feel this impact, but households with regular consumptions weighing ten cubic meters or less will have a P0.83 discount. Those who consume 20 cubic meters would have a P3.14 rebate and a P6.43 deduction for those consuming 30 cubic meters.