Water bill: it will soon increase, why such increases?

After the rise in energy prices, our water bill is likely to soar too. But why this increase?

Inflation, energy crisis , out of stock, for some time now, the purchasing power of the French has been gray. And things don't seem to be stopping. Indeed, among individuals and professionals, this crisis has cascading effects . Thus, electricity and gas prices have risen without precedent. But this now the water bill is also likely to increase. What to expect ? And why such an increase? Here is a summary point, so that you can see it more clearly.

The water bill explodes in France

Prices may vary from town to town. . Nevertheless, users have all been able to make a similar observation. Thus, in Nantes, elected officials had to find innovative solutions to avoid penalizing citizens. To reduce the water bill, they therefore opted for a reduction in the subscription rate, and an increase in consumption costs. Thereby, the most reasonable households will remain rather protected against this increase.

But in Rennes, Rennais basin water (community) had to revise its prices upwards. Users should therefore expect a higher water bill, of nearly ‘1.50 euro per month . Same observation in the cities attached to the water union of Anjou. In these municipalities, the water bill will increase by 1% to 18% . Indeed, the community had to pass on inflation to the rates in force.

How to explain this situation ?

Lately, many professionals took the floor to publicize the damage caused by energy tariffs . Thus, some artisan butchers and bakers demonstrated in the face of electricity costs that had become unsustainable.

Even large groups, such as Cofigeo (Panzani, Garbit, etc.) have had to review their activities in the face of energy prices. These costs, in addition to the prices of raw materials, feed inflation on many products . The same goes for our water bill.

Thereby, communities and syndicate in charge of water treatment use equipment. However, these can be very energy intensive. These entities are then found with much higher running costs than before. Thus, the management of Eau du Bassin Rennais confirms these difficulties. ' The annual electricity bill is multiplied by 3.5, it will increase from 2 million euros in 2022 to 7 million euros in 2023.'

In front of this situation, increase the water bill remains the simplest solution. But there is also another cause for this problem. Indeed, everyone remembers the heat wave that we went through in 2022. These extreme temperatures also gave rise to unprecedented droughts. Matthew Sorel, climatologist at Meteo France reports a significant rain deficit that occurred last summer 'on the order of 25%. » According to him, the month of July 2022 remained » Extremely dry, with a huge rainfall deficit: – 85%. »

In these conditions, communities consider that reducing the water bill is not a good idea . In the Côtes-d'Armor, the heads of the water treatment unions believe that this would not send a good message. “Given the water situation, lowering the price would have been a bad signal. »

In the agglomeration of Vannes, elected officials have opted for tariff convergence . The goal? Harmonize prices between all municipalities in the territory, and s eliminate disparities in water bills .

Source : West France