Opening the water tap in Malaga and Seville will be up to 42% more expensive, an increase that will be reflected in the bills for this supply from 2024. This has been recently advanced by the popular mayors of both cities, Francisco de la Malaga. Torre and the Sevillian José Luis Sanz, an advertisement that has generated significant discomfort among opposition political groups and consumers.
In the case of the city of Malacita, EMASA (a public company that feeds 579,000 inhabitants) will update the rate starting in spring after being frozen for eight years, and will do so in a linear manner, that is, without penalizing those whose water consumption is highest.
For its part, the Sevillian EMASESA (which supplies one and a half million inhabitants between the capital and several municipalities in the metropolitan area) is studying updating its prices progressively over two years, a quota that has not been updated since 2009.
If de la Torre had stated during his electoral campaign that raising taxes was not among his plans, the reality is that water will suffer a significant increase starting next year. The arguments put forward by the municipal government team are several: impact of the drought, investment in infrastructure and addressing the debt that the City Council has had with the supply company for two years and which amounts to 4 million euros.
Here, the announcement has caused great controversy, not only because of the way in which the ‘rate’ has been communicated, but also because of the increase in the price of water itself and the lack of proportionality that the 42% increase represents for all consumers. FACUA-Málaga questions the transparency of this measure and assures that there is no file that justifies the increase.
For her part, the councilor of the area, Penélope Gómez, argued that the local Executive has had to adopt this decision to be able to face an increase in the cost of energy of “121%, which increased costs by eight million euros.” , a way to clean up the accounts of a company that in the last decade has obtained profits of 16.8 million euros. It was in 2021 when EMASA had a loss of 600,000 euros and in 2022, the year in which a loss of three million was recorded, a total figure that “does not represent bankruptcy” for the company, according to the consumer organization, since it has with a budget of 78 million euros.
Both the opposition and neighborhood organizations call for the mobilization of citizens against this decision by the mayor. In fact, the Citizen Initiative against the Water Rate has been established that promises to act against the increase.
The changes in EMASESA billing are still being studied. At the moment, the Water Observatory is working on a preliminary report and some meetings are scheduled to adopt a decision regarding the definition of the new tariff structure, frozen since 2009.
In the area of ??action of the supply company, important infrastructure reforms must be undertaken, “an investment plan to continue offering a quality service in times of drought,” said Juan de la Rosa, responsible delegate of the Company. The proposal, he said, “aims to obtain income to regain balance and compensate for losses due to the drought, address spending needs derived from the general increase in prices or actions that were being postponed due to lack of budget”, and will be implemented progressively over the next two years.
In Seville, according to the EMASESA spokesperson, an increase of “on average” of 30% is proposed, although the “average” consumer would see their bill increase by 22%. On the other hand, as stated by the public company, there will continue to be “the bonus for the most efficient consumption, without forgetting, of course, the social rate to guarantee the human right to water among the most vulnerable groups.” The increase would be 18% in two years for homes with subsidized efficient consumption, and would reach up to 46% for the following sections.
The increase in this tax is a proposal understood and supported by the different affected municipalities in the metropolitan area and also by consumer representatives, aware of the impact that the drought is having and the need to maintain and renew the general infrastructure of the service, actions that will be carried out in the period 2024-2028 thanks to these new income.
Facua-Sevilla, which understands that the tax has to rise to meet the current needs of the network and adapt the water supply to the context of climate change, urges that “a good part of the investments” be “paid for by the administrations ” so as to “avoid even greater harm to citizens.”
The consumer organization has criticized that the Andalusian Government has eliminated the regional water fee, whose purpose was to jointly finance works of general interest for the entire Andalusian population.
