The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) is all set to give a shock to commercial and industrial category customers and water- based units as it has proposed to increase the water tariff by nearly 100 percent.
The board has sent the proposal to the state government for approval. As and when the proposal is approved by the chief minister, who is also the chairman of HMWS&SB, the tariff increase will come into force. However, domestic consumers will be spared from the hike.
Tariff increase has become inevitable to the board to earn sufficient revenue to cover its operational and maintenance expenses, to pay power bills which account for 70 percent of its expenses, depreciation, debt servicing, salaries, etc. The board is incurring huge revenue deficit of around Rs 30 crore every month.
Speaking to Express, senior officials of the HMWS&B said that about 5 percent of the customers, ie, commercial, industrial and water-based units will face additional burden. At present, the board’s customers comprise 22,000 commercial establishments such as hospitals, private colleges, manufacturing units, software companies, etc; between 1,500 and 1,600 industrial units and 12 water-based units.
The board is supplying 40 million gallons of water a day (MGD) to these consumers. The revenue collection from these three categories of customers is Rs 25 crore to Rs 27 crore a month. If the government gives nod for the hike, the revenue will go up to Rs 50 crore to Rs 54 crore a month.
The tariff hike has become inevitable as the HMWS&SB expenditure is over Rs1,000 crore a year whereas the annual income is lower at Rs 750 crore to Rs 800 crore.
The monthly revenue deficit ranges between Rs 25 crore and Rs 30 crore. Board officials blame the deficit on the rising power tariff and levy of fuel surcharge adjustment (FSA), and pay revision.