KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 09): The Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (AWER) said the government will soon carry out preliminary steps to engage all levels of stakeholders, before implementing a transparent setting mechanism for water tariff.

AWER, which is a think tank for water and energy-related matters, has urged Malaysians to play an active role by providing feedback to the National Water Services Commission (or better known by its Bahasa acronym SPAN) on the current water services from water operators. This is in order to assist the commission to evaluate the water operators’ performances, in order to set “stricter” key performance indices (KPIs).

AWER said the feedback should include complaints of supply disruption and the quality of water.

“This is a historic moment, where members of public will be directly engaged before tariff is adjusted,” said AWER in a statement.

The think tank said SPAN today will carry out preliminary steps to engage all stakeholders, before setting a final water tariff. According to AWER, a summary of proposed tariff adjustment and relevant KPIs for water service operators will be published by SPAN for all stakeholders — including members of the public — to provide feedback.

The “water service” here comprises water treatment, water supply and sewerage services, said AWER.

“This would be a preliminary step before the completion of Regulatory Water Accounting (RWA), which will further improve transparency of water services costs and efficient cost benchmarking, to improve operating standard of the water services industry,” said AWER.