Fagar justifies the increase in the price of water in Faro with regulator rules

PS and BE municipal structures have already demonstrated against the increase

The water and waste management company Faro (Fagar) attributes this year's tariff increase to the determinations of the Water and Waste Services Regulatory Entity (ERSAR) and to the rise in prices by service providers.

Updating the tariff covering water supply, wastewater treatment and urban waste management in the municipality of Faro was reflected in the bills that began to reach residents in early March, referring to January billing, when it came into force.

The municipal structures of the PS and the BE have already demonstrated against the increase, with the socialists classifying the measure as «brutal, totally misaligned and inconsistent with the discourse of the right-wing coalition that leads the municipality» and the BE proposing the reversal of the measure, considering it "a manifest case of speculation".

Questioned by Lusa, Fagar alleges that the tariff results from the applicability of the ERSAR rules, "with the attribution of increased charges to a significant part of users, which until now had not happened", having complied with the regulator's recommendations.

According to the municipal company, among the rules is the creation of single scales for the variable tariff for domestic and non-domestic waste, as well as a single scale for variable tariffs for non-domestic water and non-domestic sanitation.

On the other hand, the payment of fixed tariffs for sanitation and waste is now applicable to large families, with sanitation tariffs now also being applied to people who have a septic tank, which until now has not been the case, he adds.

With regard to local accommodation, the increase «results from the adequacy of the tariffs charged to the nature of the activity existing in the property», since «numerous local accommodations were detected unduly benefiting from the domestic tariff», as the change to commercial activity was not communicated.

According to Fagar, in addition to the increase in prices charged by service providers, last year there was an "excessive increase in the cost of delivering waste to the rising management entity (Algar), with the value per ton rising from 39,27, 68,27 to XNUMX euros, with a direct negative impact of approximately one million euros on the company's accounts».

«We already know that this year there will be a new increase in the value per ton to 80,91 euros, with a negative impact estimated at half a million euros, which will determine a new tariff correction», warns the municipal company.

For the water and waste management company Faro, tariff updates «must comply with the rules and recommendations of the sector’s regulatory authority and be adequate and proportional to cover the costs of the company’s activity, in order to ensure the provision of essential public services».

In a statement, the PS of Faro classified the increase in tariffs as "a severe blow to the management of companies' finances and tremendously unfair and painful for family budgets", already aggravated by the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and inflation.

Socialists remember having voted against the proposal for a global increase of 0,6% presented by the executive in December, quantifying the tariff increase for 2023 at around 25%.

Also in a press release, BE mentions that in, «no other municipality in the Algarve, there was a similar increase», considering that Fagar is «imposing increases that almost triple the inflation rate, and that are even greater than those registered in foodstuffs”.

In a note published on its website, Fagar mentions that it offers customers a social tariff to support families in economic difficulties, a tariff to support large families and another aimed at Private Institutions of Social Solidarity (IPSS).

 

 



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