Water utilities were tasked with the challenge of collecting sufficient income to deliver an agreed or expected level of service to their customers while meeting the public good requirement to provide affordable water to all. This was increasingly difficult as peri-urban and informal settlements continued to grow, and utilities grappled with how to avoid the vicious cycle of declining service levels – both a symptom and cause of declining tariff payments.

Building on the previous webinar in the series which focused on the regulatory frameworks, principles, and approaches to tariff setting, the subsequent webinar explored the operationalization of those tariffs. The discussion delved into how utilities encouraged and made it easy for people to pay their bills and what strategies they employed to ensure water access for those unable to pay.

Equitable water access meant ensuring that everyone, in all places, had access to clean, safe water at a price they could afford. Acknowledging this, the panel explored pro-poor strategies water utilities in the Pacific were using to ensure equitable and affordable access to water for their customers.

Customer service managers from Tonga Water Board and Water PNG joined the panel to discuss the skills of their customer service teams and their day-to-day work to support the financial and operational sustainability of the utility. Operationalizing water tariffs included a range of often hidden complexities linked with accurate billing and tailoring tariffs to the needs of different residential and commercial customers.

The Asian Development Bank and Pacific Water and Wastewater Association hosted the webinar on Wednesday, April 17th, 2024, as part of the second Pacific WASH Webinar for the year – Operationalizing Water Tariffs to Ensure Equity and Affordability in the Pacific.