Anyone who has a large garden or pool could pay more for water in the future. Lower Saxony wants to create incentives for economical use: normal consumption should become cheaper, heavy consumption more expensive.
In Lower Saxony, water could become more expensive in the future for people with high consumption. The state government is now introducing a reform of the water law to the state parliament. Water suppliers should be able to set a favorable basic consumption, while additional consumption is billed at a higher rate. The country wants to create an incentive for economical use, as Environment Minister Christian Meyer said.
The Green politician emphasized that water could even become cheaper for many households thanks to the new tariff structure. If you don’t consume more than the usual average, you don’t have to worry about higher prices. For this basic consumption, water should even become cheaper in the future, said Meyer. According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, the average per capita consumption in 2022 was 128 liters per day.
According to Meyer’s idea, households that are significantly above this value would pay more. These are often people with larger houses or gardens. This is “socially fair,” says Meyer, because families in rented apartments have only limited options for saving water.
dpa
