The modification of the water supply rate approved in the recent municipal plenary session of Candelaria aims to raise awareness among users about costs, promote social equity, and encourage water conservation.
The local government highlighted that water rates had not been updated since 2017. During this period, the cost of purchasing water from suppliers has increased by 30.9%, in addition to other rising expenses such as electricity and supplies.
Under the new tariff structure, the previous minimum consumption threshold of 10 cubic meters, priced at 12.50 euros regardless of actual usage, has been eliminated. Instead, a fixed fee of 14.25 euros per two months for domestic water supply service has been established. This change aims to eliminate the mandatory minimum consumption, which previously did not incentivize water conservation and affected 11% of users, mainly households that remained unoccupied or were second homes.
With the introduction of the service fee, the billing for the first cubic meter consumed has been implemented. To ensure social fairness, the government, led by Mari Brito, reduced the price of the initial consumption block from 0 to 10 cubic meters, previously at 1.25 euros per cubic meter, to less than half, now priced at 60 cents per cubic meter. The range of the second consumption block has also been revised, set between 10 and 30 cubic meters.
Additionally, an industrial consumption service fee has been established, removing the previous 10 cubic meters minimum threshold. The tariff structure now includes four blocks, compared to the previous two, with progressively tiered prices.
