LEWA (Licence Fees and Customer Levies for Water and Sewerage Services) Regulations 2013 (L.N. No. 140 of 2013)

Vol.58 No. LESOTHO Government Gazette Friday - 27th September, 2013 CONTEl\TTS LEGAL NOTICE No.56 Page 140 Lesotho Electricity and Water Authority (Licence ... .. ....... 423 Fees and Customer Levies for \X/ater and Sewerage Services) Regulations, 2013 OTHER NOTICES (See Supplen1ent of the Gazette) Published by the Authority of His Majesty.,the King Price: M6.50 423 LEGAL NOTICE NO. 140 OF 2013 Lesotho Electricity and Water Authority (Licence Fees and Custome1· Levies for Water and Sewerage Services) Regulations, 2013 Pursuant to section 112 of the Lesotho Electricity Authority Act, 2002 1 , 1, DR. TIMOTHY THAHANE Minister of Energy, Meteorology and Water Affairs, make the foUowing Regu lations: Citation and con1n1encement l. These Regulations may be cited as the Lesotho Electricity and Water Authority (Licence Fees and Customer Levies for Water and Sewerage Serv ices) Regulations, 2013 and shall come into operation on the date of publication in the Gazette. Interpretation 2. In these Regulations unless the context otherwise requires "Act" means Lesotho Electricity Act, 2002; "annual licence fee" means a fee a licensee pays to the Authority cover ing part of the amount of cost incurred by the Authority in the conduct of regulating the licensee; "Autho1ity" means the Lesotho Electricity and Water Authority; "customer" means a person supplied or requiring to be supplied with water and sewerage services at any premises in Lesotho; Hcustomer levy" means a levy imposed by the Authority on a customer; "days" n1cans calendar days. 424 Procedure for calculating the annual costs of the Authority 3. (1) The Authority shall, by 31st December each year, publi h its forecast costs for the following three financial years . (2) The first of the three financial years referred to in subregulation (1) is designated "year T~i ,, and the previous relevant year is de ignated ''year T-1,,. (3) The Authority may, at any time before the start of a relevant year1 adjust its forecast costs of regulation for that year T 1 by an amount which the Authority under or overspent in year T-1 ( 4) The Authority shall. in determining the annual costs, seek an ap propriate balance between the customer levy and the annual licence fee, giving due consideration to the level of fee which it considers reasonable and the broad split of costs between the licensee and its customers. Procedure for determining the annual licence fee and customer levy 4. (1) A licensee shall provide the Authority with the following infor mation not later than 15th October each year for the following relevant year or within a period specified by the Authority (a) a forecast of quantities of water to be sold or billed and sewerage to be treated in year T+ 1 : and (b) the actual quantities of water sold or billed and sewerage treated in year T 1 . (2) The Authority may (a) approve forecasts supplied by the licensee under sub regulation ( 1) and determine appropriate levies and fees payable by the licensee~ (b) request a licensee to re-evaluate and adjust its foreca ts; and ? 425 (c) specify an appropriate time for the resubmission of the forecasts. (3) The Authotity may revise the annual licence fees and customer levy if the actual out-turn of water produced, supplied and sold or sewerage col lected and treated materially differs from a licensee's forecasts and shalJ notify a licensee. (4) A licensee may, within 14 days of notification by theAutho1ity of the amount of the annual licence fee and customer levy payable~ submit com ments to the Authority on the likely impact on tariffs, taking into account all cost elements that contribute to the final tariff amounts. (5) The Authority shall approve the annual licence fee and customer levy for the coming financial year after taking into account any such comments received from licensees. ( 6) The Authority shall inform the licensee in writing of the total payable annual licence fee and customer levy not later than the 31st December each year or other time specified by the Authority. SpeciaJ provisions for customer levy 5. ( l ) A licensee shall charge every customer a customer levy on every unit of water supplied, billed and sold and sewerage services provided. (2) The Authority shall, in determining a customer levy, take into account the ability of all customer categories to pay the customer levy. (3) The Authority shall, in allocating a customer levy pursuant to subregulation (2), pay due attention to the following (4) (a) water supply and sewerage services tariffs as approved by the Authority; and (b) contribution of the approved annual licence fee to the tariffs. The Authority may, as it sees fit, vary the customer levy between customer catego1ies. ., 426 (5) The Authority shall, in varying cu~ tomer levy in terms of sub regulation ( 4), act with fairness and transparency in allocating the customer levy and base its decision on the ability of all customer categories to pay. Payment of annual licence fee 6. (1) A licensee shal1 pay an annual licence fee to the Authority at the beginning of each financial year or at such time as the Authority may determine. (2) A licen ee shall pay an annual licence fees on a pro-rated basi against the portion of the financial year for which the licensee holds the licence, based upon a 365 days or 366 days in case of a leap year in respect of any year in which a licensee does not hold licence for the entire year. (3) Where the Authority gives a notice of payment, a licensee shall pay the annual licence fee within 30 days from the date of receipt of the notice and where the Authority docs not give a notice of payment, the licensee shall pay the annual licence fee not later than the 30th September of each year. (4) A licensee who fails to pay in terms of subregulation (3) shall pay simple interest on the amount at the rate cqui valcnt to the base rate of the Central Bank of Lesotho plus 1 % . Payment of customer levy 7. (l) A licensee shall, within 15 days for prepaid cu tomer and 45 days for credit customers following the end of each month, pass the levy col lected to the Authori ty. (2) A licensee shall, within 75 days after the end of a relevant year, pa) to the Authority, a fuJI amount of customer levy which shall include any amount owing on previous months in a relevant financial year. (3) A licensee may be required to display on each customer"s water bill the amount of customer levy charged by the Authority. DATED: DR. TIMOTHY THAHANE MINISTER OF ENERGY, l\1ETEOROLOGY AND WATER AFFAIRS NOTE 1. Act No. 12 of 2002 as amended 427