Global Water Tariff Growth Slows To 6.2 Pct, Driven By Investment - GWI Survey

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Global water tariffs rose by an average of 6.2 per cent between 2024 and 2025, according to the Global Water Intelligence (GWI) annual Tariff Survey released recently, a cooling off from the steep, inflation-fuelled increases of the post-pandemic years.

This year’s hikes are increasingly tied to long-term infrastructure investment rather than short-term operational cost recovery, which was driving early post-pandemic increases, according to GWI in a statement.

Unusually, Europe is at the forefront of this year’s tariff increase, with new legislation and investments in climate change resilience driving higher-than-usual increases.

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Joining Europe at the top of the increase table are Turkey and Kazakhstan, which together dominate seven of the 10 highest increases globally. Kazakhstan made a bold policy shift by adopting volumetric tariffs to fund ageing infrastructure—a sharp increase, though tariffs remain low in real terms.

Meanwhile in Asia, where GWI has surveyed 172 cities from 40 countries and territories, growth is sluggish. A few notable increases in India are far from enough to lift the country’s standing in the tariff ranking; South Asia remains by far the cheapest region in the world.

In Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, after sustained growth over the past few years, growth is relatively subdued this year, with notable exceptions such as South Africa and Argentina.

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As for North America, tariff growth is stable, underpinned in many cities by increases in stormwater charges to cope with more extreme weather events.

GWI is the leading market intelligence and events company serving the international water industry, providing its customers with high-level intelligence that enables them to make the most informed strategic decisions for their business.

-- BERNAMA