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Water compensation bill passes committee

The legislature gave preliminary approval yesterday to a resolution stipulating that people affected by water supply disruptions without warning would be eligible for a rebate on water fees two-and-a-half times more than current amounts.

The resolution, passed by the Economics and Energy Committee, must still pass the full legislature.

The resolution, proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝), states that people who have no running water for one day qualify for a five-day water fee rebate, based on each household's average daily cost of water.

"Suspending water supplies from Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) without providing advanced notice has become normal practice in recent years," Chu said.

She said that people affected by suspension of water services not only endure the inconvenience of no running water, but many suffer monetary losses as well.

"People have to spend extra money to buy water and people running food businesses have to stop operating for days at a time during suspensions," Chu said.

Should the resolution pass the full legislature, its application will be backdated to cover two incidents of service suspension earlier this month and late last month, which affected more than 250,000 households in northern Taiwan.

The resolution would require the Taiwan Water Supply Corp (TWSC) and the Water Resources Agency to provide compensation for consumers' losses.

TWSC general manager Huang Ching-ssu (黃慶四) said that the company had no problems with the proposed regulation.

The Democratic Progressive Party caucus said yesterday that Water Resources Agency is also comfortable with the proposal.
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