€15,000 in fines for water theft

The Water Services Corporation has issued almost €15,000 worth of fines for water theft in the past 10 months, according to a statement issued by the WSC in reply to an article that appeared in The Sunday Times on November 23.

The corporation insists, however, that in spite of the hefty penalties issued, it holds no data showing there has been a surge in the theft of water from its networks - as had been stated in The Sunday Times' report.

Yet the WSC confirmed figures presented report, which said that avoidable losses (described as 'apparent losses' in the industry) due to unauthorised consumption and all kinds of metering inaccuracies stood at 23 per cent. This reflects an increase of seven per cent since 2003.

The corporation stated: "Practically half of this is attributable to technical problems faced by all water providers anywhere in the world in similar circumstances and are impossible/impractical to resolve. Most of the rest are due to metering inaccuracies and theft."

A spokesman for the corporation admitted that the corporation regularly invested in the replacement of old water meters to limit loss of revenue, dismissing claims that the increase in avoidable losses was down to greater metering inaccuracies.

The WSC has just concluded a €44 million contract with IBM to go for a smart metering system that aims to address inaccuracies in the billing system.

The surge in apparent losses has to some extent been countered by an improvement in the WSC's reduction in leakages (referred to as 'real losses'). Since 2003, the corporation has managed to reduce water leakage by 10 per cent, according to figures confirmed by the WSC.

The corporation said it was aiming to reduce losses to a minimum that was economically viable. It added that this level had already been reached in all areas except the north of Malta due to the high dispersal of the system in the countryside.

"The conclusion is that we are in line with all benchmarks for losses except that our apparent losses can be reduced further," the corporation said.

However, contrary to the assertion made by the WSC, experts believe the rate of water theft has risen since the introduction of a surcharge on water and electricity bills.

Meanwhile, the WSC assured consumers that they will not be billed twice for the corporation's electricity bill. It said it will pay Enemalta for the consumption of energy to operate its reverse osmosis plants and then transfer a proportion of that bill to each consumer according to consumption.

The WSC declined answering questions over whether it will have to pay the new tariffs for the electricity consumed by its energy-intensive reverse osmosis plants.