NWC customers promised lower bills NATIONAL WATER Commission customers should soon be seeing lower water bills, following the disbanding of a special tariff implemented to raise millions to finance acquisition of new equipment. The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) yesterday announced the discontinuation of the 'K Factor' which for two years was the system under which a four per cent tariff was applied to customers' bills via a Price Adjustment Mechanism (PAM). It yielded the Commission $264.9 million. According to the OUR, the K Factor was designed to generate additional funds for the purchase and installation of meters and pumps which would help in improving the overall efficiency of the company. The OUR said the challenge for the NWC would be to sustain its meter installation/-replacement activities, which on the present customer base would require some 45,000 meter installations annually. The OUR said however that the NWC should, as a priority, focus on analysing its energy costs and implement steps to secure improvement in energy efficiency. As at December 2000, energy costs represented 21 per cent of the utility's total operating costs. Meanwhile, J. Paul Morgan, the OUR's Deputy Director-General in charge of electricity and water, said the OUR was concerned with the NWC's level of gross receivables and Unaccounted For Water (UFW). UFW is characterised as water produced but for which NWC collects no revenue. It covers water lost to leaks, broken pipes, or thieves. As at December 2000, the receivables had risen to an all-time high of $4.09 billion, the OUR deputy said. The amount is three times the $1.3 billion ceiling stipulated by OUR, under the last tariff review, said Mr. Morgan. UFW at the end of the 2000 calendar year was recorded at 67 per cent, figures the deputy director-general described as disappointing as it did not reflect the results expected, based, he said on reported efforts taken to reduce the lost commodity.
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