Water Company granted small price increase

Prices for water will be going up, but not by as much as Belize Water Services requested. The Public Utilities Commission has announced its initial decision on the B.W.S.L. request for an annual tariff review based on “exceptional circumstances”. The P.U.C. rejected that part of the B.W.S. submission dealing with increased chemical costs but agreed that the reclassification of forty-five hundred customers from sewer to water only rates was beyond the company’s control. As a result, B.W.S., as of April first, will be able to increase rates by fifty cents per one thousand gallons of consumption. Customers who use less than one thousand gallons per month will not be affected. The rate hike also does not apply to residents of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. In other utility company news, we are informed that arguments in the case against the Government of Belize by Jeffrey Prosser were completed today in a Miami Federal Court. A decision is expected in the next few days.