PETALING JAYA, Dec 20 — The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) dismissed suggestions that its proposed plan to bill customers based on water usage is being mooted to cover costs incurred from Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) bill defaulters.

SPAN chief executive officer Mohd Ridhuan Ismail said the move — still in the planning stages — had been proposed to ensure the sewerage industry was sustainable.

“To achieve the vision of the Water Services Industry Act 2006, the IWK services have to be viable — and appropriate tariff-setting is vital to achieving that goal.

“This has nothing to do with defaulting customers. Furthermore, there has been no tariff revision since 1997 and the commercial tariff rates have been reduced three times in that period,” said Ridhuan in a statement yesterday.

The new system was opposed by consumer groups who said the new system would increase IWK bills for households, unfairly punishing customers paying their bills on time.

However, this claim was strenuously denied by Ridhuan, who pointed out the volumetric method was being suggested to replace the current outdated structure.

“The volumetric charges based on water usage are in no way related to punishing anyone,” he said.

Ridhuan said as a service provider and utility company, IWK provided the people crucial and essential services which they had to pay for.

“The method of charging based on water use is practised by companies in the United Kingdom, Europe, Singapore and the United States as it is seen to be the fairest method of charging for sewerage services,” he explained.

Ridhuan said the new calculation mechanism would be based on the volume of water used, with those using more than 20 cubic metres of water affected  by the change.

“Domestic customers who use 20 cubic metres cube of water or less (monthly) will pay the same amount they are paying now. Above that, they will pay less than RM1 per cubic metre.

“Like the current method, the charges will also differ based on categories such as low-cost houses, government quarters or new villages,” he said.

At present, IWK charges between RM2 and RM8 monthly for domestic users depending on the categories of their homes.

Ridhuan explained the volumetric method of charging was better for commercial customers in principle, compared to the current method.

“For the commercial sector, the charge is based on the annual premise value while it is a flat rate for domestic customers.

“However, the new volumetric method will mean users will be charged based on the amount of water used, which is a more equitable method and leads to water conservation realisation

“The customers can proactively manage their bills and costs by managing their water consumption,” he noted.

According to SPAN, over RM700 million in IWK bills were still being owed by customers up to December 31 last year.

However, he revealed the annual total debts over the last few years had not been increasing, adding that SPAN managed to collect RM178million of the debts as of October.

“For the last three years, the outstanding debts have not grown because IWK has been actively seeking payment from defaulters through persuasive and legal means.

“Awareness has been growing as payment trends indicate that customers pay their bills within 24 months. We hope many more will pay within the stipulated 30 day time period,” he said.