Large water users to pay additional dry season tariff

Large water users are to be subject to an additional water tariff of NT$3 per cubic meter starting on Feb. 1 on top of their monthly water bills during the dry season, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

Called a water consumption fee, the tariff would be imposed on those who use more than 9,000 cubic meters a month from November to April, the ministry said in a statement.

The tariff can be reduced to NT$2 or NT$1 per cubic meter if a certain percentage of the water used by a customer comes from recycled water that did not originally come from an underground source, it said.

Large water users are encouraged to use sea water, develop new water resources or install water conservation devices to be eligible for a discount of up to 60 percent of their water consumption fee, it said.

The water consumption fee charged after accounting for potential discounts would be halved from next month to June 30, 2025, and then charged in full after that, although the discounts would remain in effect, the ministry said.

The ministry originally expected to start levying the water consumption fee in July last year, based on Article 84-1 of the Water Act (水利法), which was amended by the legislature in 2016, Water Resources Agency Deputy Director-General Wang Yi-feng (王藝峰) said.

However, given the electricity price hikes imposed on large-scale users since July last year and other inflationary pressures, the ministry postponed the implementation of the water consumption fee until next month, he said.

The new tariff would be imposed on an estimated 1,700 to 2,200 business users involved mainly in the manufacturing and construction sectors, as well as meat wholesalers, and would raise annual revenue of between NT$600 million and NT$1.4 billion (US$19.54 million and US$45.58 million), Wang said.

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2023/01/07/2003792120