Water tariff has been hiked by around 25 per cent within a span of six months, putting extra burden on the consumers in Dhaka and Chattogram.
The new rates will come into effect from April 01 this year.
According to a statement issued by WASA on Friday, consumers will now have to pay Tk 14.46 for each unit (1,000 litres) of water for residential use instead of Tk 11.57.
For commercial use, WASA adjusted the price of per unit water to Tk 40.65 against the existing rate of Tk 37.04, up by 7.99 per cent.
In Chattogram, tariff on residential water supply has gone up by 25 per cent to Tk 12.40 per unit.
Commercial users will have to pay Tk 30.30 for each unit of water, a 9.94 per cent increase.
With the latest hike, the water price has increased by 141 per cent in last 10 years. The price of each unit of water was only Tk 6 in 2010.
Local Government Department in its order issued on February 26 approved the proposed tariff hike.
Water tariff was previously increased from Tk 11.02 to Tk 11.57 on September 01 last year.
The changes were announced a day after the energy regulator raised retail electricity prices by Tk 0.36 or 5.3 per cent to Tk 7.13 per unit.
Dhaka WASA proposed hiking the water prices by 80 per cent for residential and commercial use early February. WASA has proposed Tk 20 for each unit (1,000 litres) of water for residential use against the existing price of Tk 11.57.
For commercial purpose, it has recommended Tk 65 against the existing rate of Tk 37.04.
Water prices were increased by 22 per cent and 18 per cent for residential and commercial use respectively in 2017.
According to section 23 of WASA Act 1996, the WASA board can raise water prices by 5 per cent annually.
It increased water price by 5 per cent last year, citing inflation.
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