The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said there will be no tariff adjustment on customers’ water bills this coming third quarter of 2020.
In a news statement, MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Lester N. Ty said the MWSS Board of Trustees (BOT) has approved the recommendation of the MWSS Regulatory Office to retain the prevailing second quarter Foreign Currency Differential Adjustment in the upcoming quarter based on its evaluation of the FCDA proposals of the concessionaires, Manila Water Co. Inc. (MWCI) and Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI).
As such, MWCI will continue to implement an FCDA of 1.69 percent of its 2020 Average Basic Charge of P28.52 per cubic meter, or P.48 per cubic meter, while MWSI will continue to apply an FCDA of negative 0.21 percent of its 2020 Average Basic Charge of P36.24 per cubic meter, or negative P.08 per cubic meter.
Done quarterly, the FCDA is a mechanism that allows the private water concessionaires to recover losses, or give back gains arising from fluctuations in foreign-exchange rates, as payments are made for foreign-currency-denominated loans that are used to fund the expansion and improvement of water and sewerage services.
The corrective mechanism is formulated by the MWSS Regulatory Office to avoid under-recovery or over-recovery caused by foreign-exchange movements.