Huge municipal price difference in drinking and waste water

Residents in Ærø pay three times as much as Frederiksberg residents annually

Jul 10, 2015

When it comes to paying for drinking water and disposal of waste water, the price differs considerably depending on where you live, according to a new report from the competition and consumer authority Konkurrence- og Forbrugerstyrelsen (K&F)

A family from the island of Ærø using 84 cubic metres of water annually pays 9,756 kroner for drinking water and waste water disposal, while a family on Frederiksberg pays just 3,222 kroner, the report showed.

“It’s a market that doesn’t resemble other markets, where the consumer can go for the best offers,” Niels Beier, the deputy head of K&F, told TV2 News. “You can’t just move to get the water company of your choice and that means that the market mechanisms which ensure competition are not present.”

“So we’ve put forth some figures so the water companies can ask themselves whether they are efficient enough and we hope that the consumers use it to question why they pay so much for water.”

Lowest in Copenhagen
The report (here in Danish) showed that the price of drinking and waste water disposal was found to be lowest in the Capital Region and highest in Region Zealand.

Beier underlined that the prices are dictated by the efficiency of the water companies, while expenses and investment into maintenance also influence the price.

“And you have to remember that geography also plays a role. There are different expenses associated with running a water company in Denmark as it can be difficult to drill for water in Ærø, for instance, than in other parts of the nation,” Beier said.