CUSTOMERS in the Metro Manila East Zone water-concession area can expect higher bills starting next year.
In a regulatory filing over the weekend, Manila Water Co. Inc. said that it is raising Foreign Currency Differential Adjustment (FCDA) component of clients’ water bills by P0.36 per cubic meter effective 15 days after publication.
This is based on the exchange rates of $1:P44.7979 and ¥1:P0.4156, according to the Ayala-led company. The FCDA will be adjusted to 1.32 percent of the basic charge for the first quarter of 2015, it added.
“FCDA is a tariff mechanism formulated to account for foreign- exchange losses or gains arising from the payment by Manila Water of concession loans and foreign-currency-denominated borrowings of the MWSS [Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System], as well as loans of Manila Water for service expansion and improvement of its services,” said Joel P. Raquedan, chief legal counsel and assistant corporate secretary of Manila Water.
This is in accordance to the Concession Agreement between Manila Water and MWSS, as amended.
The FCDA, he added, will have no impact on the estimated net income of the East Zone water concessionaire.
The biggest listed water utility in the county posted consolidated net income of P4.55 billion in the first nine month ended September 30, 2014, or 6 percent higher than P4.29 billion in the same period last year.
A subsidiary of conglomerate Ayala Corp. in tie up with British and Japanese investors, Manila Water was incorporated on January 6, 1997, to provide water, sewerage and sanitation, distribution services, pipeworks, and management services to a broad range of residential, commercial and industrial customers. It became the East Zone concessionaire of MWSS during its privatization on August 1, 1997, with their 25-year water-concession deal from 2008 to 2022.