Higher water rate in S'gor, KL and Putrajaya from Sept 1

The Star

a day ago

KLANG: Households that use between 20 to 35 cubic metres (m3) of water monthly in Selangor, Kuala Lum­pur and Putrajaya will now have to pay RM1.62/m3, which is an increase of 30sen effective Sept 1 this year.
Homes using more than 35m3 of water monthly, which is equivalent to 35,000 litres, will now have to pay RM3.51/m3 for each cubic metre, which is an increase of RM0.88/m3.
Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said in a statement yesterday that this was done to encourage more optimum and responsible usage of water for the over 2.7 million water account holders serviced by Air Selangor.
However, homes using up to 20m3 will not face any increase and will continue paying the existing rate of RM0.65/m3.
'This means there will be no increase as the current rate under­went a review in February 2024.
'The minimum charge for domestic users will also remain at RM6.50,'' said Amirudin, adding that the new water tariffs would be effective from Sept 1.
The new rates are in tandem with the Federal Government's approval of the application made by the states and Federal Territory Labuan to improve the services of treated water to both domestic users and the various industries.
Those in condominiums, estates and government quarters will see an increase of RM0.41/m3 with consumers having to pay RM2.09 for each cubic metre.
For condominiums, the minimum charge of RM173 per month will remain, while the minimum rate for estates and government quarters will move to RM20.90/month.
'To reduce the cost of living impact on people living in low-cost housing, the new rate will see the lowest increase among all domestic sub-categories by RM0.10/m3 to RM1.18/m3,'' said Amirudin.
Places of worship and welfare institutions will only see a ­minimal increase of 10sen per cubic metre to RM0.76/m3.
This was to ensure that places of worship and welfare institutions are not severely impacted, said Amirudin.
Not wanting to overly burden businesses, commercial entities and non-domestic buildings will be charged the same rate as dom­es­tic households using more than 35/m3, which is RM3.51/m3 with an increase of RM0.57 for each cubic metre.
Non-domestic buildings consuming more than 35/m3 of water will see the rate go up to RM3.83 for each cubic metre over 35/m3.
Amirudin said since the shipping industry uses a considerable amount of water, it will now have to pay a new rate of RM8.01/m3.
The state has also included data centres as a new category given that they require over a million litres per day to cool their systems.
Data centres will be charged RM5.31/m3 for water usage.
'The state government will continue to provide free water monthly worth RM13 to 337,851 accounts through the Darul Ehsan Water Scheme (SADE),'' added Amirudin.
He said the state government will also increase the household income eligibility for SADE from RM5,000/month to RM6,000/month to assist people who are truly in need.