Mekorot resorvoir
Photo: Albatross
Price of water to drop by 5%
Reduction, delayed by Mekorot, to be retroactive from February due to drop in market index
The price of water is set to drop by 5% and be applied retroactively from February, Water Authority Director Uri Shani announced Monday.
The authority has been postponing the price reduction, which follows automatically from a drop in Israel's market index, since March.
Last month Calcalist reported that a Water Authority Council meeting scheduled to discuss the price of water ended with Shani handing the issue over to the court.
The 5% cut affords little consolation for Israel's citizens and industrialists, who suffered a 25% rise in water prices in January.
The price is affected by various market indexes, including the consumer index and the price of electricity. The effect is supposed to occur automatically, and generally does not require debate.
But Mekorot, Israel's national water company, objected to the drop, claiming that its electricity prices had not gone down and that it should not have to charge less for water.
