If the bill passed, the price of the water coming out of your kitchen sink faucet could increase or decrease significantly. Photo by Nathan Greenhalgh.
TALLINN — The cost of tap water in Estonia could significantly fluctuate significantly if a bill submitted by the Ministry of the Environment that recalculates prices passes in parliament.
Estonia’s Ministry of the Environment sent a draft bill of the the Public Water Supply and Sewerage Act to the Riigikogu Monday in order to develop a common way for calculating the prices of services to all Estonia’s water suppliers. The bill would require rural customers, whose homes and businesses are more expensive for water supply companies to reach, to pay more than urban customers.
“The draft act will ensure the proper supply of water services, the comprehensive sustainability of integrated water management in the future and counter the power of monopolies,” Raili Niine, water department adviser of the Ministry of the Environment, told Baltic Reports.
However the bill includes a stipulation that water utility companies, which are municipally-owned, will no longer be able to unilaterally set water prices but instead must use a cost calculation formula. The municipal governments are unhappy about this.
“Local government jurisdiction in the price-setting of public water supply and sewerage services should not be reduced, as many local governments, or the water-companies owned by local governments, have submitted their applications to Environmental Investment Center for EU investment support on reconstruction purposes of urban water systems. Only local governments, or 100 percent local government-owned water utilities can apply for EU investment support,” Jüri Võigemast, chief of the Association of Estonian Cities, told Baltic Reports.
The draft act will also leave a major influence on the water prices, especially in the rural areas, where population density is lower. The Estonian Public Water Supply Association estimates an increase of as much as 40 percent could occur in some areas.
According to Niine, the price fluctation will depend on the region. Water prices can range from 14.10 krooni (€0.90) per square meter in the small town of Võru in southeast Estonia to 18.30 krooni (€1.16) per square meter in Viimsi, a Tallinn suburb. Where the prices do not cover the costs of the water company a price increase could be expected if the cost calculation system is implemented, and where the water price is too expensive compared to the expenses of the water company a price decrease could be expected.
