The
Sewage Charging Scheme, introduced in April 1995, requires a polluter
to pay for the cost of sewage services provided in accordance with
the quality and quantity of wastewater discharged. To keep the charge
at a modest level, the charges were set to recover only the operating
and maintenance costs of the public sewage facilities, while the capital
costs of building these facilities will continue to be borne by the
Government. Since the introduction of the scheme, the charges have
been kept at the same level. However, in response to the economic
downturn, the Government decided to reduce the Sewage Charge and Trade
Effluent Surcharge (TES) for one year starting from 1 April 2002.
The Sewage Charge will be reduced by an amount not exceeding $200
and $800 for domestic and non-domestic accounts in a 12-months period,
while TES will be reduced by 30%.
In 2001/02, we received and
provided satisfactory answers to about 7,200 telephone enquiries,
2,300 written enquiries and 200 enquiries at our service counters.
Figure 5.1 shows the number of verbal and written enquiries received
since April 1995. There was a slight increase in the number of enquiries
since 1999/2000. This may be due to the increase in number of newly
identified TES accounts and our stepped up actions to recover bad
debts. The figures for 2001/02 are similar to those for
last year.
![](images/05/51.gif) |
Figure 5.1 Number of enquiries received from customers since 1995 |
Figure 5.2 presents a breakdown
by the types of written enquiries received in 2001/02. Similar to
previous years, most of the written enquiries are related to billing
matters. An initial written reply is issued within two working days
to confirm receipt of the enquiry and to inform the customer that
the necessary follow-up investigation work on the enquiry has already
begun. In 2001/02, we continued to achieve the target of providing
a full reply to customers within one month from the date of receipt
of a written enquiry for 95% of the cases.
![](images/05/52.gif) |
Figure 5.2 Written enquiries received in 2001/02 by types |
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Reassessment of TES Rate and Discharge Factor
Non-domestic consumers may apply for reassessment
of the TES rate or discharge factor if they consider that the effluent
strength or discharge factor of their discharge is lower than the
corresponding values specified in the Ordinance. The discharge factor
is the volume of water discharged as a percentage of the volume
of water supplied. The number of applications for reassessment of
both the TES rate and the discharge factor has increased this year
as shown in Table 5.1. The distribution of applications for reassessment
of TES rate (COD reassessment) in 2001/02 by business classification
is shown in Table 5.2.
Charging
Parameters |
Number
of applications received in the year |
2000/01 |
2001/02 |
Effluent Strength (COD) |
549 |
670 |
Discharge Factor |
35 |
47 |
Table 5.1 Number of applications for reassessment
of TES rate and discharge factor in 2000/01 and 2001/02
Trade Classification |
No. of
accounts applying for COD reassessment |
Restaurants |
558 |
Slaughtering, preparing and preserving meat |
86 |
Food processing |
6 |
Paper recycling |
6 |
Soft drink/Breweries |
5 |
Bleaching and dyeing |
7 |
Dairy products |
2 |
Total |
670 |
Table 5.2 Distribution of COD reassessment applications
in 2001/02 by business classification
Among all COD reassessment cases, 26 were withdrawn
for either technical or individual reasons and 41 cases were rejected.
In 2001/02, 576 cases had been successful in demonstrating that
the pollution level of their effluent is lower than the generic
effluent strength of their respective trades. More than 80% of the
applications for COD reassessment had come from restaurant accounts.
In addition, 47 cases had demonstrated that their discharge factors
are less than 85% of the values specified in the Regulations for
the respective trades. Most discharge factor reassessment cases
are related to sewage charge (SC) only.
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Business Reclassification
The business classification of a TES account is
normally assigned according to that reported during the application
for a water metre. If a customer has subsequently changed his/her
business type or considers that the business classification assigned
was incorrect, he/she should submit an application for review. The
number of applications for business reclassification handled since
April 1995 is shown in Figure 5.3. In 2001/02, 273 business reclassification
cases were handled.
From time to time, some TES chargeable water accounts
have not been registered because of incorrect business classifications
in the water account records. Actions have been taken to identify
business accounts which according to the law should pay TES but
were not charged for TES in the past. In 2001/02, 633 new TES accounts
were identified. The total numbers of accounts identified in the
past years are shown in Figure 5.4.
![](images/05/53.gif) |
Figure 5.3 Business reclassification applications handled since 1995
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![](images/05/54.gif) |
Figure 5.4 Number of new TES accounts identified since 1995 |
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Billing and Consumption Statistics
There are about 2.49 million water accounts of
which about
2.28 million are liable to pay SC. The department will determine
whether a premise is connected to public sewerage and, therefore,
liable to pay SC while the Water Authority will handle the maintenance
of account details and billing matters on our behalf. About 8,400
corrections were made to the sewer connection status of the accounts
in 2001/02.
In the non-domestic category, about 15,400 accounts
are liable to pay TES as they operate one of the 30 trades designated
in the Sewage Services (TES) Regulation. The distribution of TES
accounts by trade types is shown in Figure 5.5.
In 2001/02, about 62,700 TES bills were issued,
including 684 bills for newly identified accounts. We have also
processed 149 applications for payment by auto-pay and 128 by monthly
instalments.
Since April 1998, we have stepped up actions to
recover bad debts. As at 31 March 2002, there are 888 active accounts
with overdue amount of $5.3 million. The recovery actions include
issuance of reminders and water disconnection orders. In 2001/02,
about 1,400 disconnection orders were issued and as a result $5.6
million was recovered.
For closed accounts with default payment, an action
plan on recovering debts was formulated and implemented accordingly.As
at 31 March 2002, there are 1,218 closed accounts with overdue of
$17.2 million. In 2001/02, about 1,000 letters before legal action
were issued and about 100 cases had been referred to Department
of Justice for legal action. As a result, over $1.8 million was
recovered from overdue closed accounts. The statistics on water
consumption, payment, and contributor patterns in relation to the
charges are shown in Appendix G.
![](images/05/55.gif) |
Figure 5.5 Distribution of TES accounts by trade types in 2001/02 |
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Revenue and Expenditure
The revenue and expenditure in the Sewage Services
Operating Accounts from 1995/96 to 2001/02 are summarized in Table
5.3. The account for the year ended March 31, 2002 is shown in details
in Appendix H.
The total revenue from SC and TES has been quite
steady in the past years, mainly because the level of charges has
remained static since the introduction of the charging scheme. In
2001/02, as a result of the settlement of the contractual disputes
of the sewer tunnel contracts, $750 million due from the contractors
was included as other revenue. Taking away this amount, the overall
revenue would be lower than that in the previous years. This is
mainly due to the effect of the concessions for SC and TES as announced
in the 2002 Budget Speech. On the other hand, the overall expenditure
has increased by $95 million in 2001/02 as compared with 2000/01
due to newly completed sewerage infrastructures coming into operation.
As a result, the deficit of the sewage services operating account
was $33 million in 2001/02.
|
1995/96
|
1996/97
|
1997/98
|
1998/99
|
1999/2000
|
2000/01
|
2001/02
|
Sewage Charge Revenue ($M) |
427
|
469
|
476
|
472
|
478
|
480
|
434
|
TES Revenue ($M) |
274
|
227
|
266
|
241
|
235
|
240
|
227
|
Other Revenue ($M) |
14
|
24
|
27
|
31
|
26
|
29
|
777*
|
Overall Revenue ($M) |
710
|
720
|
769
|
744
|
739
|
749
|
1,438
|
Overall Expenditure ($M) |
(639)
|
(723)
|
(879)
|
(1,110)
|
(1,352)
|
(1,376)
|
(1,471)
|
Balance ($M) |
76
|
(3)
|
(110)
|
(366)
|
(613)
|
(627)
|
(33)
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Table 5.3 Summary of Sewage Services Operating
Accounts since 1995
*It includes the mediation settlement of $750 million
relating to the contractual disputes between the Government and
the sewer tunnel contractors.
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