CONSUMERS of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) may soon see a rise in their water bills as the utility provider mulls a higher water tariff within one year.John Macabinta of the MCWD corporate planning department told reporters Friday, June 17, 2022, that the company is about to submit the requirements to the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) for a 60 percent price hike on the current rates per cubic meter (cbm), although they foresee that they would likely get approval for only a P2 hike per cbm.Currently, low consuming households pay only P152 for the first 10 cbm consumed.For households that consume 11 to 20 cbm, the current rate per cbm is P16.80 plus the P152 for their first 10 cbm.Macabinta assured MCWD consumers that the increase will only be implemented once there will be a “substantial volume” of water supply.“Yes, there will be a tariff increase. This will be part of the development, but again, the increase will come in once people will feel the supply is stable,” said Macabinta in a mix of Cebuano and English.According to Macabinta, improved water supply can be expected once the Lusaran Dam starts to operate in September 2022.Macabinta said the proposed increase will still undergo a rigorous process and would need approval from LWUA and this might take up to a year.Public hearings in the different local government units served by MCWD are also one of the requirements before implementing the price hike, Macabinta added.Macabinta explained that the last time MCWD imposed a price increase was way back in 2015 despite the series of oil price hikes and inflation.“Everything increased, but MCWD did not implement any increase for the past seven years. We believe that it is due for the water district to implement an increase,” said Macabinta.