If Parliament of Estonia will assign the right for Estonian Competition Authority to set the price of water for 52 biggest water-enterprises, it might cause a price increase instead of an expected decline.

Initiators of this bill explain that this law would decrease the price of water in Tallinn for 24%. But it might cause a price fall for industrial consumers and increase for households, as points out Toomas Kapp, manager of Tartu Veevärk.

Kapp explains that many water-enterprises charge different price from domestic and industrial consumers. If this new law would give permission to reconcile the prices for Competition Authority, it would end the current situation in Tallinn, for example, that households are charged 18.17 Eek and industrial consumers 44.02 Eek for one cube meter of tap water.

“It would be difficult to prove for Competition Authority, that a water supply of a bakery shop on the first floor of a five-storied house would cost twice as much as a simple private consumer on the last floor.”

According to Kapp, losing the price difference between the consumer groups would cause a price rise up to 30- 40% for two thirds of clients of Tallinna Vesi.

Head director of Competition Authority, Märt Ots, said that the new law permitting coordination of the price of water would end the discrimination of different consumer groups.

Urmas Reinsalu, who was one of the initiators of Monopoly Controlling Law, said that this bill only tries to improve the situation, that people would pay the right price for water henceforth and calls the stories of price rise a clear speculation.

Minister of Economy, Jaanus Tamkivi, also wants to control the price of water and sent out for coordination the amendments of the Communal Waterworks and –canalization Law, which also sates that if a service is rendered at the same conditions,  the price should be united for the customers.

Manager of the Union of Estonian Water Enterprises, Harri Jankovski, explains that argument of the price differences for two consumer groups has been on for years. The Union will form their standpoint about those two bills in couple of weeks.