Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) says vast majority of customers who qualify for the free water credit of 23 cubic metres per quarter use greater than this volume of water per quarter.
WAF has stated this in their application for a tariff increase to the Fijian Competition & Consumer Commission.
WAF states that out of domestic customers, approximately 33 per cent use 50 cubic metres or less in a quarter, 33.9 per cent use between 51 and 100 cubic metres in a quarter and only 33.1 per cent use more than 100 cubic metres in a quarter.
They said 75.4 per cent of commercial customers use 200 cubic metres or less in a quarter, 85.8 per cent use 400 cubic metres or less in a quarter and less than 1.0 per cent use more than 5000 cubic metres in a quarter.
“Approximately 14.0% of Domestic Free Water customers who qualify for this credit use 23 cubic metres or less in a quarter.”
“Approximately 33.1 per cent of domestic free water customers use 50 cubic metres or less in a quarter.
“Approximately 35.2 per cent of domestic free water customers use between 51 and 100 cubic metres in a quarter.
“Only 31.7 per cent of domestic free water customers use more than 100 cubic metres in a quarter.
“Vast majority of customers who qualify for the free water credit of 23 cubic metres use greater than 23 cubic metres. In fact, these customers’ usage patterns are very similar to those customers who do not qualify for the credit.
“This implies that the credit is not a significant factor in these customers’ water usage habits. Further, this implies that increasing the credit would cost revenue to WAF but would likely also not significantly impact usage patterns.”
