Tiered water pricing: Cut-off per capita more equitable

While I agree with the policy of tiered pricing to curb excessive consumption, whether for water or for electricity, this can inadvertently result in penalising families with more children, as well as multi-generation households ("Tiered pricing to curb excessive water consumption" by Mr Chua Soon Guan of the PUB; Nov 16, and "Consider tiered pricing for water use" by Mr Francis Cheng; Nov 12).

Instead of having a cut-off at 40 cubic m of water a month for each household, for tiered pricing for water, the cut-off should be set at, say, 10 cubic m of water a month for each person in a household.

It should not be too difficult for national water agency PUB to find out the number of people living in each household.

Alternatively, PUB could ask residential account holders to submit evidence of the people living in their households.

Tan Peng Boon

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 18, 2016, with the headline Tiered water pricing: Cut-off per capita more equitable. Subscribe