BENGALURU: The BWSSB announced a hike in water rates on Sunday citing sustained losses due to increase in expenditure in the past nine years.
The minimum charge for water supply will increase from Rs 48 to Rs 56 and the minimum water bill, including sanitary and meter service charges, will increase from Rs 83 to Rs 100.
While the rates for hospitals too have been hiked, the rates for multiplexes, shopping malls with theatres and community halls with AC remain the same.
In a statement, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) said the last revision in tariff was on February 1, 2005, and in the intervening years, the expenditure had increased from Rs 386.75 crore to Rs 1,222 crore (an increase of 216 per cent) while the total income had increased from Rs 385 crore to only Rs 759 crore. “The total loss in the year 2013-14 is Rs 574.45 crore, and in the previous year, the amount was Rs 268 crore. The board is utilising capital receipts to meet the revenue expenditure, which is an alarming situation,” the statement said.
This revision will help BWSSB increase its revenue from Rs 50.23 crore per month to Rs 73.73 crore, according to a senior official. However, there will still be a shortfall of Rs 8.27 crore per month which the Board will try and reduce by checking water loss and theft.
The BWSSB area has 6,69,998 domestic connections and 38,696 non-domestic connections. Water bills include water charges, service charges and sanitary charges.
Sample Bills
Suppose your water consumption is 65 KL and your bill is Rs 2,400, now, as per the new rates, the bill will be Rs 3,656.
For buildings like the Brigade Millennium Mayflower where the average usage is around 5,000 KL per month for around 220 flats, the hike means that their bills will now go up from around Rs 95,000 to Rs 1.10 lakh.