Boiling Point

A Water Board proposal to hike tariffs could see rates doubled, with 70 percent of domestic users in the first 20 unit band, seeing prices raised in three slabs.





A Water Board proposal to hike tariffs could see rates doubled, with 70 percent of domestic users in the first 20 unit band, seeing prices raised in three slabs.

Proposals are to double rates for the first 10 units from Rs.

1.25 to Rs. 2.50, 11 to 15 units, from Rs. 2.50 to Rs. 5.00 and from 16 to 20 units, from Rs.

6.50 to Rs. 15.

“There is also the alternative proposal to not raise tariffs for the first 20 units, but to discourage use, for the next unit, to charge about Rs.

20 from the first unit,” a senior Water Board official told LBO.

Translated, that could mean a household that uses 20 units, with a bill of just over Rs.

100, could be landed with a bill of over Rs. 400 for using 21 units.

Not surprisingly, that could lead to doctoring between household owners and meter readers, one skeptical official said.

Already, about 20 percent of connected households are estimated to have damaged or faulty meters.

Non-revenue water due to leakages, illegal connections and other admi