Despite tariff revision, BWSSB suffers 25% revenue deficit every month

Despite the recent tariff hike, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is still not able to break even through its own sources of revenue to sustain even the operational costs. Data shows the Board is still operating at 25% revenue deficit, not accounting for debt repayment and depreciation.

Responding to a question raised by Shantinagar Congress MLA and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Chairman N.A. Haris in the Assembly during the recently concluded Karnataka Legislature Session, Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar revealed that the BWSSB incurs a monthly operational expenditure of ₹239.40 crore, of which more than half is the energy bills, pegged at ₹124 crore.

These operational expenses are all set to go up as more properties start to avail water and sewage connections under Cauvery V Stage.

After 11 years, BWSSB recently revised its tariff up to 1 paise per litre for domestic and up to 1.9 paise per litre for commercial connections, a 25% hike in sewage charges, and a significant hike in sanitary charges for borewells and wells. Before this hike, BWSSB’s revenue from all sources put together was around ₹138 crore - ₹139 crore per month. Following the tariff revision, it is now pegged in the range of ₹180 crore and ₹182 crore.

This means the Board is still operating at a revenue deficit of around 25% every month, around ₹60 crore a month, adding up to ₹720 crore annually.

Plugging leaks

One of the ways BWSSB is trying to gain financial sustainability is by trying to plug leakages. At present, Unaccounted for Water (UfW) is pegged at 28%. The Board is working towards bringing it down further aggressively and has been taking up works to replace old pipelines and use technology to find leakages, Ramprasath Manohar, Chairman, BWSSB said.

Meanwhile, the Board has recently launched special drives to recover arrears pegged at around ₹395 crore, of which half is from commercial buildings and industries and the remaining half from government departments and institutions - both State and Centre, data provided Mr. Shivakumar in the Assembly shows.

Solar power

BWSSB has been working on installing solar panels on its properties and transitioning into using solar power to reduce its energy bills.

Diversification of revenue sources

BWSSB is further working to diversify its revenue sources, especially trying to sell treated water, Dr. Manohar said. Though the sale of treated water picked up significantly in the summer of 2024 during a water crisis, it has fallen after tiding over the crisis. BWSSB has been trying to create a market for treated water. The Board has recently come up with a proposal to incentivise bulk users who adopt dual piping and use treated water for non-potable purposes.The proposal is yet to be ratified by the Board.

Meanwhile, BWSSB is working towards producing Compressed Biogas (CBG) at its Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and market the sludge as manure.

Water conservation activist S. Vishwanath said that it was important to make BWSSB financially self-sustaining. “As a first step, tariff revision should become an annual exercise like power tariff revision and should not be left undisturbed for a decade, like the last time. The Board should look at expanding the market for treated water and should monetise commercial exploitation of ground water. The law allows for metering borewells dug for commercial purposes with a fee of ₹5 per kilo litre fixed. This is not being implemented . BWSSB needs to be made in-charge of groundwater in the city and those who commercially exploit ground water should be made to pay a royalty to the government, and that money should be credited to BWSSB,” he argued.