MANILA Water customers will see a reduction of rates in their bills next month, after the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) had approved the water distributor’s foreign-currency differential adjustment (FCDA).
The Ayala-led company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday that the approved FCDA for their rates will be P0.05 per cubic meter starting April 1.
This is P0.31 per cubic meter, less than the P0.36 per cubic meter in the previous quarter.
The adjustment is based on the exchange rates of $1:P44.6044 and ¥1:P0.3764, Manila Water said.
“The FCDA component of the water bill of Manila Water customers will be adjusted to 0.18 percent of the basic charge for the second quarter of 2015,” the utility firm said in the disclosure.
It will translate to more than P1 reduction in the water bills of customers using 20 cubic meters a month.
MWSS added that the FCDA is a “tariff mechanism formulated to account for foreign-exchange losses or gains arising from the payment by Manila Water of concession loans and foreign-currency-denominated borrowings of the MWSS, as well as loans of Manila Water for service expansion and improvement of its services.”
The East Zone water concessionaire, likewise, noted that the FCDA has no impact on its projected net income.
Manila Water reported a slight increase in consolidated net income last year to P5.82 billion, or 1 percent higher than P5.75 billion in 2013.
Combined revenues for the 12 months ending December 31, 2014, also grew to P16.36 billion, up 3 percent from P15.93 billion in the same period two years ago.
The improved financial results could be attributed to higher bills volume and water service connections within its concession areas in Metro Manila, as well as in Boracay, Laguna, Clark and Vietnam.
Total billed volume rose by 12 percent to 671.2 million cubic meters (mcm) in 2014 from 599.4 mcm two years ago.