WILLEMSTAD – A Curaçao household using nine cubic meters of water and 250 kWh of electricity per month will pay XCG 50.93 more for that same consumption in October than it did in January, according to calculations presented by the PAR parliamentary faction.
The opposition party is using the figures to raise broader questions about the cumulative effect of utility rate increases on household purchasing power.
According to a statement from PAR faction staff member Ana Maria Pauletta, the October tariff adjustment alone will increase the monthly water and electricity expenses of a household with that consumption profile by XCG 22.61 compared with September.
PAR says the increase is particularly significant because the household in its example is not consuming any additional water or electricity. It is paying more for exactly the same quantities.
The party also states that electricity rates have increased by 30 percent over the past nine months.
Pauletta argues that utility rates cannot be examined in isolation from other household expenses.
Families must simultaneously pay for food, transportation and other necessities that have also become more expensive. An additional XCG 22.61 in a single month can therefore have a significant impact on households already struggling to make their income last until the end of the month.
Water, Pauletta said, is particularly different from many other household expenses because families cannot simply decide to stop consuming it when prices rise.
It is needed for drinking, cooking, personal hygiene and maintaining a clean home, while households with children, elderly residents or people who are ill may have even greater needs.
PAR is therefore connecting the affordability debate to Curaçao's commitment to SDG 6, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal dealing with clean water and sanitation.
Pauletta argues that if Curaçao publicly commits itself to SDG 6, the government must also be able to demonstrate how it intends to keep basic water consumption affordable for everyone on the island.
The party also wants more information about what consumers may face after October.
PAR is asking the government to clarify how much electricity-related expenditure may be passed on to consumers in November and what measures are being considered to protect families that cannot absorb further increases.
The faction says the government should examine alternatives to placing the full additional burden on consumers, including using Aqualectra's own revenues or profits and providing additional subsidies to the utility.
Pauletta singled out pensioners, people receiving government assistance, minimum-wage workers and working-class households as groups particularly vulnerable to successive increases.
For PAR, the issue is therefore no longer simply the size of one tariff adjustment, but the cumulative effect of repeated increases on the amount of money Curaçao households have left after paying for essential services.