- Original Message -
From: Chris Doss [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Wow. A water Chubais. If they did that in Russia, they
would have mass opposition rallies. The very idea of
paying bills is a novelty here. What are water costs
like in South Africa? Water is free here (two things
Russia is not short off -- ater and land).
Hey Chris,
Not through my own techie efforts, but through praxis in a municipal water
war (maybe the world's strongest today - alongside Manila and Accra), we
have a fairly sophisticated answer to that question; the short answer is
US$0.84 per thousand liters. In Feb I did a report posted at
http://www.africafiles.org which sets out the existing water tariff (a
'convex curve') here in Johannesburg, along with the ideal-type concave
curve which gives *everyone* at least a 50 liter/capita/day *free* lifeline,
and penalises hedonistic consumption by my white petit-bourgeois neighbours
(and yeah, myself) through much higher-than-marginal-cost prices when
consumption goes above 150 lcd. As for praxis, our comrades in the
Anti-Privatisation Forum helped with the first 25 lcd in 2001, but as that
graph shows, the next blocs go up very fast and then flatten out, which
means the marginal cost for overconsumption doesn't act as a good deterrent
(the price elasticity is still too low to get a conservation response).
Anyhow, we've found in many of the towns around South Africa that the slope,
shape and convexity of the water tariff is actually a pretty good proxy for
the state of class struggle. Hopefully with the 2005 municipal elections,
which may be contested in several strong lefty pockets by a 'new social
movements' network of folk like the http://www.apf.org.za, there will be
more national focus on this issue. Meanwhile, the comrades in Soweto keep
fighting against pre-paid water meters, shallow sewers, pit latrines, and
other ways in which Suez (the Paris company with the outsourcing contract)
tries to slow consumption, at the cost of worsening HIV/AIDS (water borne
diseases like diarrhoea and cholera becoming fatal opportunistic
infections), gender inequity and other externalities which don't interest
Paris shareholders.
On top of that comes yesterday's news that, thanks to the infamous Lesotho
dams (subject of a recent corruption controversy at the World Bank), the
bulk costs of water are rising faster than anywhere on earth...
Ciao,
Patrick
13 August 2004
SA water price hike 'largest in world'
SA's average water price increase of 10,6% implemented last year was the
single largest in the world, making the country's water charges the
ninth-highest of the 14 major world economies, according to a study.
This emerges as government plans to reduce the cost of doing business in SA.
It means that water utilities, like parastatals in the telecommunications,
transport and electricity sector, could soon be forced to review their
pricing structures in line with the 3% to 6% inflation targeted band.
The survey, released this week by US-based utility cost control and
consulting firm NUS Consulting , found that SA's water prices had increased
10,6% to $0,84/m³ in the 12 months to last month.
This resulted in SA losing its previous position as the country with
third-least expensive water costs, behind the US and Canada.
The single-largest increase in the past year was experienced in Cape Town,
where a water supply shortage led to a price rise of over 16%, George
Rahr, MD of NUS Consulting in SA, said yesterday.
He said widespread drought that plagued the country last year had
contributed to the price increases. Further price increases were expected
next year.
Overall, said Rahr, utilities in the country's interior tended to have
higher price increases due to the scarcity of water resources in these
areas. None of these cities are situated on or near a major primary river,
and therefore must rely upon water from distant dams, he said.
Gauteng's primary storage dam, the Vaal Dam, for example, had its water
levels supplemented from the Lesotho Highlands, a distance of about 250km,
which carried a premium on its price due to infrastructure requirements.
Gauteng's water utility Rand Water, which gets its supplies from the Vaal
Dam, imposed a 5,7% tariff increase last month, attributing the hike to
operating costs and rising demand due to the province's growing population.
The increase was also aimed at offsetting the 6,1% increase on raw bulk
water supplied from the Vaal River by the water affairs and forestry
department.
The survey found that Germany had the highest water costs in the world at
$2,20/m³, while Canada was the least expensive at $0,52/m³.
Business Day
http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1679268-6078-0,00.html
