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THE Baguio City government is eyeing the implementation of a tariff rate for households connected to the city’s sewage treatment plant (STP) instead of a blanket rate that affects all households in the city.
The tariffs’ projected income is expected to be used for the repayment of the city’s 20-year, P3.7 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank for the upgrading and rehabilitation of the city’s STP system.
According to City Budget Officer Leticia Clemente, after the upgrading of the STP, only 17,000 of the city’s 108,000 registered households are to be served by the upgraded STP. Initial tariff plans were based on water and electric connections and existing real property units registered with the city government, which implied that the tariff applied to households not connected to the STP.
Clemente said that there is a need to establish proper inventory records for existing sewer connections and a systematic collection process to contribute in the proper implementation of existing rates as published in Ordinance No. 18, series of 2016, or the city’s Environment Code.
Among the options for tariff rate considered by the city government are direct charging or linking the rates to water consumption with the Baguio Water District (BWD) as the implementing and collecting body, or indirect charging through proxy indicators such as the real property tax and electricity consumption.
