By Madelaine B. Miraflor Starting April, water rates will go down, albeit slightly, after Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) approved the Foreign Currency Differentials Adjustment (FCDA) in the second quarter rates of Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) and Manila Water Corp. (MWC). "There's going to be a rollback in prices of water for the second quarter of 2018. This will be effective April 1. The reason for it is that in the average exchange rate in January, the peso appreciated vis a vis the US dollars," MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Ty told reporters on Tuesday. Approved every quarter, FCDA is a tariff mechanism granted to utility companies to allow them to recover losses or give back gains arising from the fluctuating movements of the peso against other currencies. This, since utilities have to pay foreign-dominated concession fees to MWSS, as well as dollar-denominated loans, which they used to fund their projects. So for the second quarter, an average downward adjustment of P.04 per cubic meter (/cu.m) for Manila Water and P.01 got Maynilad will bring down the cost of water to residential customers. For Manila Water customers consuming 10 cu.m per month, there would be a reduction of P0.20, while Maynilad customers would save only P0.06 in their monthly billing. For those consuming 20 cu.m, there's going to be a P0.45 rollback for Manila Water customers and P0.23 for Maynilad clients. Those consuming around 30 cu.m every month would save P0.91 for Manila Water customers and P0.46 for Maynilad customers. "While I understand that the rollback is very, very minimal, we were able to take advantage of the historical strenght of the peso recorded in January. Because of that, there's a rollback, instead of an increase. This is the first time there's going to be a rollback in water rates since I started working as Chief Regulator in August last year," Ty further said. Maynilad is an agent and contractor of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, which is composed of the cities of Manila (certain areas), Quezon City (certain areas), Makati (certain areas), Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon—all in Metro Manila; the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario—all in Cavite province. Manila Water, on the other hand, provides water and used water services to the following areas:  Mandaluyong, Pasig, San Juan, Marikina, Pateros, Taguig, Makati, southeastern part of Quezon City and San Andres and Sta. Ana in Manila including several towns of Rizal Province which include San Mateo, Rodriguez, Antipolo, Cainta, Taytay, Angono, Binangonan, Baras and Jalajala. In December, the government allowed the two companies to jack up water rates due to several factors such as higher prices of goods and the depreciation of peso.