Fire in the Water
Mike Banos
March 16, 2006
Many of my friends find it hard to believe that our family of five adults use less than ten cubic meters of water a month. We only pay the minimum rate for 10 cubic meters of water per month to the water district despite doing all our cooking, washing and bathing almost 100% in-house.
That?s why I?m a tad peeved to think that I?m helping subsidize the water district?s expansion to provide potable water to the city?s expanding population. Why us? Can?t the water district bill the real cost of water development to new users for whom it?s meant for? Break it to me gently, Brother Jun! Tell me why, tell me why?
Under the present system of quasi-socialized pricing utilized by most utilities such as our water district, there?s a multi-tiered structure of pricing, with the bulk of accounts being accounted for by small households like yours and mine who only pay the minimum for the first 10 cu. m. of water consumed per month.
Now, since we only consume from 7-8 cu. m. of water a month, isn?t this penalizing us by charging us more per cubic meter of water, a third of which we don?t even get to use? Your utility will tell you that?s the way things have always been done and without the huge base of flat rate consumers, water would be very expensive for everyone.
Things are even made worse by huge commercial and industrial users who not only get lower rates by buying water in bulk, but on top of that get even bigger discounts the more water they use! In these days of dropping water tables and skyrocketing demand, such a scheme borders on the criminal! Might as well encourage waste and profligacy! Problem is, us minimum/flat rate users are helping foot the bill for these big industrial/commercial users by subsidizing their excesses with our under-consumption. Because we?re so stingy with out water consumption, we?re giving big users carte blanche to throw away theirs as they please since they?re paying less per cu. m. since we do! You still with me?
In the example of our household, the discounts of these big consumers are made possible by the 2-3 cu.m. we small users don?t use each month but pay for anyway. Socialized pricing indeed! Us small residential users footing the bill for commerce and industry! And these profligates get proportionally bigger discounts the more water they consume because we make it possible by our thrift! As my good friend Edward Cansino used to say with verve, ?Swindabu! Que lastima!?
An analogous situation exists in electric utilities, Kag. Benjo Benaldo?s pet peeve included. From the present pricing scheme structured similarly to the water district?s, power utilities would like nothing more than migrate to a ?time of use? scheme similar to that used by phone companies for long distance calls where off-peak hours costs much less than peak hours.
Ostensibly, the rationale for this is to encourage better ?load factors? or the manner with which an industrial/commercial user or a utility draws down its power allocation from the National Transmission Corp (Transco) or direct from the National Power Corp (Napocor). The lower your load factor, the more expensive the power you pay for since you use a bigger amount of electricity over a relatively shorter period compared to another which may use the same amount but spreads its consumption over more hours of the day or night.
With time of use, Benjo?s pet peeve could now have a higher load factor and of course, pay lower rates to Transco. Tama ba Kuya Bong? Big deal. Entonces? One may ask with matching eyebrows arched condescendingly?Do the math, dude!
As a consuelo de bobo to my co-consumers at the bottom of the pile, now the RVAT has gone into effect, households consuming less than 100 kilowatt hours of electricity a month will be VAT-exempt. Big residences or businesses in the over 200-999 kwh consumption range will pay 73 more centavos more per kwh, while over 100 kwh consumers will pay 85 centavos more per kwh. Finance Asst. Sec. Gil Beltran says bigger consumers will subsidize smaller ones under this scheme.
I?m sure I?ve heard that somewhere before, but more often than not, ultimately it?s the small guys who end up making things easier for the big guys. Oftentimes it pays to be prudent and thrifty with God?s gifts to us, but in a society enamored with the super, the jumbo and the mega, frugality is fast becoming an increasingly endangered virtue.
INDNJC-
That?s why I?m a tad peeved to think that I?m helping subsidize the water district?s expansion to provide potable water to the city?s expanding population. Why us? Can?t the water district bill the real cost of water development to new users for whom it?s meant for? Break it to me gently, Brother Jun! Tell me why, tell me why?
Under the present system of quasi-socialized pricing utilized by most utilities such as our water district, there?s a multi-tiered structure of pricing, with the bulk of accounts being accounted for by small households like yours and mine who only pay the minimum for the first 10 cu. m. of water consumed per month.
Now, since we only consume from 7-8 cu. m. of water a month, isn?t this penalizing us by charging us more per cubic meter of water, a third of which we don?t even get to use? Your utility will tell you that?s the way things have always been done and without the huge base of flat rate consumers, water would be very expensive for everyone.
Things are even made worse by huge commercial and industrial users who not only get lower rates by buying water in bulk, but on top of that get even bigger discounts the more water they use! In these days of dropping water tables and skyrocketing demand, such a scheme borders on the criminal! Might as well encourage waste and profligacy! Problem is, us minimum/flat rate users are helping foot the bill for these big industrial/commercial users by subsidizing their excesses with our under-consumption. Because we?re so stingy with out water consumption, we?re giving big users carte blanche to throw away theirs as they please since they?re paying less per cu. m. since we do! You still with me?
In the example of our household, the discounts of these big consumers are made possible by the 2-3 cu.m. we small users don?t use each month but pay for anyway. Socialized pricing indeed! Us small residential users footing the bill for commerce and industry! And these profligates get proportionally bigger discounts the more water they consume because we make it possible by our thrift! As my good friend Edward Cansino used to say with verve, ?Swindabu! Que lastima!?
An analogous situation exists in electric utilities, Kag. Benjo Benaldo?s pet peeve included. From the present pricing scheme structured similarly to the water district?s, power utilities would like nothing more than migrate to a ?time of use? scheme similar to that used by phone companies for long distance calls where off-peak hours costs much less than peak hours.
Ostensibly, the rationale for this is to encourage better ?load factors? or the manner with which an industrial/commercial user or a utility draws down its power allocation from the National Transmission Corp (Transco) or direct from the National Power Corp (Napocor). The lower your load factor, the more expensive the power you pay for since you use a bigger amount of electricity over a relatively shorter period compared to another which may use the same amount but spreads its consumption over more hours of the day or night.
With time of use, Benjo?s pet peeve could now have a higher load factor and of course, pay lower rates to Transco. Tama ba Kuya Bong? Big deal. Entonces? One may ask with matching eyebrows arched condescendingly?Do the math, dude!
As a consuelo de bobo to my co-consumers at the bottom of the pile, now the RVAT has gone into effect, households consuming less than 100 kilowatt hours of electricity a month will be VAT-exempt. Big residences or businesses in the over 200-999 kwh consumption range will pay 73 more centavos more per kwh, while over 100 kwh consumers will pay 85 centavos more per kwh. Finance Asst. Sec. Gil Beltran says bigger consumers will subsidize smaller ones under this scheme.
I?m sure I?ve heard that somewhere before, but more often than not, ultimately it?s the small guys who end up making things easier for the big guys. Oftentimes it pays to be prudent and thrifty with God?s gifts to us, but in a society enamored with the super, the jumbo and the mega, frugality is fast becoming an increasingly endangered virtue.
INDNJC-
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