Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has approved new water and sewerage rates to be charged by Can-Cara Development to its customers in some sections of western Spanish Town, St Catherine and the Meadows of Irwin housing scheme in St. James.

Can-Cara Development is a privately owned, limited liability company which provides water and sewerage services in the aforementioned communities. The new rates took effect May 1 and will remain in effect for no less than two years. 

The company is expected to apply these new rates to customers’ bills issued at the end of this month. Residential account holders will now be required to pay J$133.08 for every thousand litres of water, up to the first 14,000 litres supplied. 

The previous rate was J$92.67, reflecting a 43.61 per cent increase. In the case of sewerage charges, residential account holders will be required to pay J$153.70 for the first 14,000 litres of sewage handled by the utility provider, up from the previous mark of J$84.11 for that same volume of sewage processed, which represents an 82.74 per cent increase.

New rates approved based on ‘No Objection Principle’

Having completed the necessary analysis of Can-Cara Development’s tariff application and all the additional information presented, the OUR approved the rates proposed by the company based on the ‘No Objection Principle’. In evaluating the submission, the proposed rates were benchmarked against that of the National Water Commission (NWC). 

The ‘No Objection Principle’ is based on the notion that if the rate structure proposed by a private water or sewerage provider is below that of the NWC for comparable services, dependent on the outcome of the scrutiny of all data, the regulator will not necessarily object to the implementation of the proposed rate.

Prior to this, the OUR’s last approved rates for Can-Cara Development were done on January 10, 2018.

The approved rates are in the table below:

The OUR also approved the following:

• Unmetered water and sewerage services (inclusive of service charge): J$5,107.82.
• Unmetered sewerage services (inclusive of service charge): J$2,936.70.
• Reconnection fee: J$4,500 for water and $13,000 for sewerage.
• Connection fee: J$11,000 (water and sewerage).

The Government regulator, in finalising the range of decisions, has also set timelines within which Can-Cara Development should submit to the OUR its customer service charter for approval, and identify additional options for customers to make bill payments.