The price that Barcelonans pay for water will rise for the third consecutive year in 2025. The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) will put to a vote next Tuesday the update of the water supply service rates for the Catalan capital and 22 other municipalities . Barring last minute surprises, the increase will be 6% compared to 2024.
The proposal of the metropolitan entity, to which this newspaper has had access, is in turn based on that made by the water management company Aigües de Barcelona. Looking to 2025, the increase is justified due to the rise in the CPI, the works linked to the drought, the digitalization of the system or the fee paid for the service to the AMB.
The vote on the new rate is scheduled for next Tuesday in the AMB Metropolitan Council, in which the PSC has an absolute majority. What Barcelonans pay for this basic supply is only part of the water bill, which includes taxes such as waste or sewage, so it remains to be seen how it will ultimately affect citizens’ pockets.
After years of frozen rates, coinciding with most of Ada Colau’s double mandate, in her last year as mayor of the Catalan capital the Comuns undertook a 4% increase. The controversy broke out, however, in 2023, when the water rate increase that was put on the table was 25.8%.
The AMB attributed that increase to the increase in high-volume supply rates applied by the Generalitat company Aigües Ter-Llobregat, which was 33% because it had frozen prices since 2017. In the end, this translated into household bills. (adding residuals and other fees) in increases of 11.5% in the case of the Catalan capital. In other words, 2.5 euros on average per month.
Right now what is paid for water in a city in Barcelona is 3.35 euros per m3, according to data collected by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA). A household that spends 15 m3 per month would receive a bill of approximately 50 euros per month.
The municipalities affected by the increase are all those that belong to the AMB except El Prat de Llobregat, which has its own supply. Among them are l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cornellà, Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Sant Adrià del Besòs or Sant Cugat del Vallès.
The details of the rate increase, included in the report that this newspaper has consulted, emphasizes the CPI, which is estimated to rise by around 3% in Catalonia. From here, one of the main investments that are contemplated to have an impact are the improvements in wells at the Drinking Water Treatment Station (ETAP) of Sant Joan Despí and in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.
Another increase is the one associated with the PERTE for digitalization of the service, the RESSONA project. The rate includes an expense of 3.4 million euros, which is the non-subsidized part of the plan.
Aside from the groups that may oppose the rate update in the Metropolitan Council, what will surely intensify are the complaints from environmental entities and public water management. Last year Aigua és Vida already denounced that there should be no price increases as long as Aigües de Barcelona continues to make profits.
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