(Kingston, Jamaica; 2026 November 13): The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has begun its review of the National Water Commission’s (NWC’s or Commission’s) 5-year tariff application covering the 2026-2031 period.
This comes after a preliminary review of the application, after which the OUR wrote to the NWC indicating that although there are some gaps in the information presented, the regulator has found no substantial grounds to reject the application. The OUR has mandated that the NWC provide additional information to assist in its review.
Subject to the timely submission of the requisite information, the OUR expects to complete its review of the NWC tariff application and publish its decision by 2027 February.
In its tariff application, the NWC has made a number of proposals, including:
- An initial tariff adjustment of approximately 54.9%. The NWC is proposing an annual revenue requirement of J$63.41 billion in the base year (2025/2026), comprising operating expenditure of J$50.60 billion, a return on regulatory assets of J$10.05 billion, and regulatory depreciation of J$2.76 billion. Compared with its estimated revenue of J$40.93 billion at existing tariffs, this represents an additional annual revenue requirement of approximately J$22.48 billion. If approved by the OUR, the adjustment would result in an overall initial average tariff increase of approximately 54.9%, although the impact on individual customer bills would vary.
- A five-year financial outlook. The NWC projects that its annual revenue requirement will increase from J$64.46 billion in Year 1 (2026/2027) to J$76.18 billion in Year 5, while projected revenue at existing tariffs will increase from J$41.54 billion to J$44.27 billion over the same period. The NWC also reports a present-value revenue gap of 64.3% in its forward-looking analysis.
- Changes to the existing tariff structure. The NWC proposes to recover 11.50% of its revenue requirement through fixed service charges and standardised billing across all customer categories using the metric system. The Commission proposes to establish a separate tariff category for government customers, and revise the consumption blocks for residential and commercial customers.
- Changes to customer bills. The NWC proposes to increase fixed service charges by up to 10% and revise residential and commercial consumption blocks to make the tariff more progressive. The impact on individual customer bills will depend on customer category, consumption level and …
Contact: OUR’s Public Affairs Unit; publicaffairs@our.org.jm – 876-968-6053
