Faro Water and Waste Management Company (Fagar) this Thursday attributed the tariff increase for 2023 to the decisions of the Water and Waste Regulatory Authority (ERSAR) and price increases by service providers.
The tariff update, which includes water supply, sewerage and municipal waste management in the municipality of Faro, was reflected in the invoices that began to arrive in early March, with reference to the January invoices when they came into force.
The PS and BE municipal structures have already opposed the increase, with the Socialists classifying the measure as “brutal, completely inconsistent and incompatible with the discourse of the right-wing coalition leading the municipality”, and BE is proposing to cancel the measures, considering it “a clear case of profiteering”.
Responding to a question from Lusa, Fagar argues that the tariff is the result of the application of ERSAR rules, “with increased charges applied to a significant portion of users, which has not happened so far”, following the recommendations of the regulator.
According to the utility company, among the rules are the creation of a unified variable tariff scale for household and non-domestic waste, as well as a unified variable tariff scale for domestic water and domestic wastewater.
On the other hand, paying fixed tariffs for sanitation and waste is now extended to families with many children, and sanitation tariffs are now also applied to people who have a septic tank, which has not been the case until now, he adds.
For local housing, the increase “results from the adequacy of the rates charged to the nature of the activity carried out on the property” as “numerous local properties have been found to be improperly using the domestic rate”, as the transition to commercial activity was not reported.
In addition to the increase in prices charged by service providers, Fagar said last year there was “an exaggerated increase in the cost of delivering waste to a growing economic entity (Algar), with the cost per ton rising from €39.27 to €68.27, with direct negative impact on the company’s accounts in the amount of about one million euros.
“We already know that this year there will be a new increase in the cost per ton to 80.91 euros with a negative effect estimated at half a million euros, which will determine a new tariff adjustment,” warns the municipal company.
For the Faro Water and Waste Management Company, tariff updates “must comply with the rules and recommendations of the industry regulator and be adequate and proportionate to cover the costs of the company’s operations in order to ensure the provision of the necessary public services.”
In a PS statement in Faro, the tariff increase was classified as “a serious blow to the management of companies’ finances and extremely unfair and painful for family budgets”, already exacerbated by the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and inflation.
Socialists remember voting against a 6% global hike proposal presented by the executive in December, estimating a 2023 tariff increase of around 25%.
Also, the BE press release mentions that “no other municipality in the Algarve has had a similar increase”, given that Fagar is “introducing an increase that is almost three times the rate of inflation and even more than that registered in food. “.
In a note posted on its website, Fagar mentions that it offers customers a social tariff to support families in economic hardship, a tariff to support large families, and another one for private social solidarity institutions (IPSS).
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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