Angry residents threaten court action as water firm doubles tariffs

“Eldowas normally sends water bills as short text messages. Shockingly, they increased water bills without sending a single message to notify me of the new rates.”

Some asked Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Bii to pile pressure on the company, whose county government is the principal shareholder, to revert to the old tariffs.

A trader, Zulfikar Bazhu, said the new water bills were more expensive than milk. “I spend Sh1,400 monthly on milk and my water bill has increased from an average of Sh1,400 per month to Sh7,000. This is outrageous. We go to restaurants and they are telling us that the cost of water will be passed to customers,” he said.

“Eldoret will be the most expensive city to live in and many investors will flee.”

But Eldowas has defended the sudden rise, saying more revenue would enable it to overhaul its water and sewerage infrastructure.

Head of Commercial Services, Fredrick Kosgei, said the charges were approved by the Water Services Regulatory Board (Wasreb) and gazetted a month before they came into effect.

He said adequate public participation was conducted in the review process that began last year.

Kosgei said the process started after Wasreb approved a proposal to raise funds to overhaul water pipelines and sewerage systems.

According to Eldowas, the increase would help it raise over Sh2.2 billion it requires to overhaul water pipeline and sewerage trunk lines, projects Kosgei says were designed to give Eldoret its true city status.

“We need more money for monumental projects. Our new sewerage trunk lines will cost approximately Sh1.6 billion and new water lines will cost up to Sh600 million,” he said, adding that a number of water lines were established during the colonial period.