Bomet residents reject higher water tax proposed by supplier

Bomet Water and Sanitation Company has suffered a blow in its attempts to introduce a higher tariff.

Members of the public shot down the proposal during public participation, saying the planned increase in water bills was not justified.

Leading the onslaught against the new tariffs, Bomet Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry officials said the water company should first work on ensuring a consistent supply to customers.

"It is difficult to understand why Bomwasco is trying to introduce new tariffs when it is difficult for them to ensure there is consistent water supply," said Cheruiyot Langat, Bomet KNCCI vice chairman.

His sentiments were shared by Dolphine Rono, a trader at Bomet market who supplies water through a kiosk. She gets water once a week.

Rono said the company was out to fleece clients with empty promises of plans to expand water supply.

"We know the plan is to increase tariffs with the pretence of plans to expand infrastructure, which is a lie," Rono said.

Rael Too, a trader from Sotik, said the timing of the new tariffs was wrong and should be shelved to another date since in the current harsh economic times residents were unable to bear further costs.

“The company should find a way to hold on. We are facing challenges as consumers and cannot afford the new tariffs,” Too said.

She said the new tariffs were too high and many people may opt out of the connections.

“I am shocked of the new tariffs. How do you increase tariffs from Sh30 per unit to Sh203 ? The amounts are crazy and many consumers will be driven out,” she said.

She questioned the rationale used to arrive at the new tariffs, saying it was going to be the highest in the country.

“From our finding, the highest water tariffs are Sh130 per unit and the  proposed tariffs by our company will break the record to be the highest and therefore the management should rethink,” she said.

While defending the proposal, Bomwasco managing director Bernard Rono said the company took the step after the county withdrew subsidy support.

Rono said it would be hard for the company to stay afloat without a subsidy and they thus thought to increase tariffs with consideration of operation and maintenance cost plus salaries for the employees.

He revealed that the company was battling a huge bill for electricity, which always causes interference in the water supply when the company is not able to meet the monthly bill.

“You may be asking yourself why we always do water rationing and sometimes we experience intermittent disruption of water supply for a week or two. And the simple reason is the financial challenge and therefore we have come up with the idea of a new tariff which will be used for the next four years,” the MD said.

Members of the public, however, proposed that the new tariff should not exceed Sh100 per unit and asked the company to go back to the drawing board and review the proposal.

Rono said once they hold a meeting, they will invite members of the public to share their thoughts on new tariffs that will be proposed.