Chișinău Water Provider Apă-Canal Seeks 11% Tariff Increase

Apă‑Canal Chișinău has submitted a request to the National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) to raise water and sewer tariffs for 2026. The proposal calls for the drinking‑water price to rise from 13.99 lei per cubic metre to 15.55 lei – an increase of roughly 11.2% – and the sewer service fee to move from 7.40 lei to 7.68 lei per cubic metre, about a 4% rise. The operator attributes the hike to higher operating expenses, including personnel costs, electricity, depreciation of fixed assets and royalties. It forecasts total 2026 costs of 965 million lei, up from the 923 million lei used in ANRE’s calculations. Apă‑Canal expects to supply over 47 million cubic metres of drinking water and discharge about 44.5 million cubic metres of wastewater, while estimating water losses of 17.25 million cubic metres (25.9% of the volume). The company also proposes lowering the tariff for water production and transport for redistribution from 6.26 lei to 6.01 lei per cubic metre and reducing the tariff for technological water.