Water tariff and sewage charge will increase by 1.09% next year, reaching 78.73 CZK per cubic meter.

Ostrava, 22 November 2016. Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizace Ostrava is gong to invest CZK 526 million into construction, modernisation and maintenance of water facilities. The Board of Directors approved also the new water tariff and sewage charge that will apply as of 1 January 2017.

Customers in the regions of Frýdek-Místek, Karviná, Nový Jičín and Opava will pay CZK 41.41 (including 15% VAT) for a cubic meter of drinking water (“the water tariff”) and CZK 37.32 (including 15% VAT) for a cubic meter of wastewater (“the sewage charge”). The difference against the previous year is CZK 0.71 (1.74%) for water tariff and CZK 0.14 (0.4 %) for the sewage charge, the difference for both components being CZK 0.85 (1.09) incl. 15% VAT.

“The water tariff and sewage charge include increased costs, for instance, the higher prices of raw water that is supplied by state-owned companies, or the need to finance the renewal plan for water infrastructure. Thanks to our policy we have been keeping the water tariffs and sewage charges below the Czech average. The objective is to continue providing our customers with top quality services in the required scope at reasonable prices”, says Managing Director of SmVaK Ostrava Anatol Pšenička.

Almost CZK 219 million should be invested into wastewater networks and wastewater treatment plants, in line with the investment plan. Major investment projects worth CZK 195 million will focus on reconstruction of water supplies in the Moravian-Silesian Region.

Almost CZK 95 million will be invested into the backbone system that supplies drinking water – the Ostrava Area Water Network. For instance, the reconstruction project will start of dewatering of sludge at the wastewater treatment plant in Nová Ves (more than CZK 52 million) or of the feeding pipeline (Záhumenice - Bělá) that crosses the Odra River (more than CZK 42 million).