Huge Price Differences: Water is most expensive in these communities

class=”sc-29f61514-0 fQbOYE”>

Summer has brought us high temperatures and dry weather so far. And when the sun breaks through and there is no rain, water consumption increases. In line with this thirsty season, the price monitor Stefan Meierhans analyzed the prices for water in Swiss municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants – fifty in all. About 2.6 million people live in these centers.

Meierhans’ analysis shows good news: compared to the last analysis in 2017, water rates have fallen by about 10 percent.

This saving is made possible by the lower water consumption. However, consumers cannot congratulate themselves because they are not using scarce goods more sparingly than they used to be. On the contrary, the devices and installations have become more efficient. In other words, less water is wasted.

Less water, higher costs

However, the costs of the water suppliers have not fallen. Precisely because of the high energy prices, many of them currently have to make sharp calculations.

In some communities, where infrastructure is particularly expensive, lower water usage has actually led to higher fees, as expensive infrastructure comes with high recurring costs – the so-called fixed costs. If costs remain the same (high) but consumption decreases, the cost per liter consumed will increase. As a result, these water suppliers have to charge more money.

Lake communities are often more expensive

So if a community-owned water company is charging a lot of money, that’s not necessarily inefficient managers at work. The price depends on many different factors. For example, municipalities that use lake water, such as the city of Zurich, have to clean it at great expense. This filtration costs about 40 centimes per cubic meter – which works out to almost 10 francs for a small pool with 24 cubic meters of water (four by four meters and 1.5 meters deep).

The size of the network also plays a role. In large communities – such as Köniz near Bern – there are many small settlements and farms. This also drives up costs.

Big differences

On average, large households in the fifty selected municipalities pay CHF 500 per year for water (with a consumption of 210 cubic meters per year). The bill is higher in half of the communities and lower in the other half. It is particularly high in Kloten, and cheap drinking water is available in Wettingen and Sion.

Three-person households pay particularly high in St. Gallen, and Sion is doing well here again. On average, such households pay more than 275 francs per year (155 cubic metres/year).

On average, small households have to pay a good hundred francs per year for their water (55 cubic metres/year). However, in Horgen on Lake Zurich, such single households pay more than double. In Zion, the annual fee is less than a third of the community average.

Source:Blick