The General Assembly of the Lanzarote Water Consortium unanimously approved this Monday to reject the increase in water rates planned by Canal Gestión between the years 2019 and 2024.
According to a statement, "the previous government group of the Cabildo had allocated a total of 3 million euros in the Consortium's 2023 budgets as a payment on account of the total debt with Canal Gestión for the revision of rates applicable since 2017 that no longer exists."
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and of the Lanzarote Water Consortium, Oswaldo Betancort, highlighted "the cordiality of the assembly that this time did have the support of all the mayors to not raise rates for citizens and to be able to invest that money in improvements to the network."
The Consortium's decision comes after the resolution of the Vice-Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Consumption of the Government of the Canary Islands on October 16, which rejected the increase, following a report from the Canary Islands Price Commission, considering it inappropriate due to the high volume of losses in the network.
In matters of the Presidency, it was agreed to demand that Canal Gestión Lanzarote return 1.5 million euros that the Consortium paid during the last Legislature as an advance on the revision of rates between 2017 and 2019, an increase that was subsequently rejected by the Canary Islands Price Commission.
The General Assembly of the Water Consortium also approved the institution's budget for 2025 in the amount of 5,939,000 euros, which had the majority support of the Assembly. A budget that, according to the Minister of Water, Domingo Cejas, "is based on real income depending on the price of energy, not comparable to what it was in 2023 due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and on expenses that do not include payments to Canal for the revision of rates."
The meeting also gave the green light to the signing of the lease agreement between the Consortium and Inalsa regarding the management, operation and maintenance of the wind farms of Teguise, Arrecife and the one being built in San Bartolomé. "It means regularizing a situation from a legal point of view," according to the Minister.
The Assembly was also informed of the Consortium's decision to take to the next meeting on November 11 the formal request to the Insular Water Council for the declaration of water emergency for the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
"The modification of the statutes is not detrimental to Haría"
The Minister of Water of the Cabildo, Domingo Cejas, who in this Assembly has been appointed vice president by virtue of article 15 of the Statutes, has also referred, on the other hand, to the agreement of the City Council of Haría to file actions against the approval of the statutes of the Consortium for understanding that the reduction of its percentage of participation in the Water Consortium is detrimental. An issue that the City Council of Haría has not taken to the Assembly this Monday
"The update of the statutes, approved in 1976, adapts, by legal obligation, the percentages taking into account the population figures of the year 2023. That is why Yaiza and Teguise have increased their participation, Tías remains the same and the rest of the municipalities see their participation significantly reduced. But in case they have to make financial contributions, they will be proportional to their population and budgetary capacity," Cejas has clarified.
The Minister also clarifies that "the participation has nothing to do with the investments programmed in the municipalities, because the object of the Consortium is insular and does not distinguish between municipalities, nor between members, nor between contributions. The object is the improvement of the insular network facing and assuming the investment where necessary. Therefore, we cannot understand what the City Council of Haría is referring to when it says that the reduction of participation is detrimental to its interests, it has not been explained in the Consortium."
The modification of the statutes was provisionally approved in the Assembly held on May 2, and published in the Official Bulletin of the Province and in that of the Autonomous Community, establishing a period of 30 days to formulate allegations. "No allegation was presented by Haría and that is why the statutes were definitively approved in the Assembly of the Water Consortium held on August 26, 2024," adds the vice president of the Consortium.