The Sewage Services Charging Scheme, introduced in April 1995 according to the “polluters pay” principle, requires a discharger to pay for the cost of sewage services provided in accordance with the quantity and pollution strength of the wastewater discharged.
 

Let’s Contribute
We hope to raise the public awareness on environmental protection, reduction of water consumption and lowering of pollution load in trade effluents.

All premises connected to public sewers are required to pay the sewage services charges. Sewage services charges have two components: the Sewage Charge (SC) and the Trade Effluent Surcharge (TES). The SC aims at recovering the cost of collecting and treating wastewater at or below domestic strength. The TES aims at recovering the additional cost of treating trade effluent with pollution strength exceeding that of the domestic sewage.

Since the implementation of the charging scheme, many new sewerage infrastructures were commissioned and put into service. In addition, several sewerage projects under planning will be completed in the coming years. Consequently, the operation and maintenance costs have been increased substantially. Adjustment of sewage services charges is therefore required to provide better sewage services. With effect from 1 April 2008, the SC rate has been increasing by 9.3% annually, up to $2.92 per cubic metre in 2017. The TES rates have been adjusted since 1 August 2008. Three trades were no longer required to pay TES; rates for 13 trades were reduced whereas rates for 14 trades were increased (among them, rates for 13 trades had been increased in two increments with the second one on 1.8.2009).

Effectiveness of the Charging Scheme
In recent years, the public awareness of environmental protection was enhanced. Meanwhile, the Government had also organized workshops and seminars to traders to further reduce their effluent quantities and pollution strength. Since the implementation of the charging scheme, there were prominent improvements on the effluent discharged from some trades. According to a trade effluent survey conducted earlier, the effluent strength of some trades were found lower than those when the Ordinance was drafted. At present, the number of trades that are required to pay the trade effluent surcharge had been reduced from the original 30 to 27.

In addition to the charging scheme, we hope that through education and promotion, cooperation with environment organizations and consultants, to further promote the public awareness of environmental protection. We have to treasure our environment and use its resources more rationally, so as to facilitate the sustainable development in Hong Kong.

Customer Enquiries
In 2009-10, we received and provided satisfactory answers to about 7,330 telephone enquiries, 1,550 written enquiries and 73 in-person enquiries at our service counters. Among them, the number of enquiries about newly identified TES accounts increased from 324 to 732. The main reason was that we had enhanced the cooperation with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in verifying and identifying new TES accounts. The numbers of verbal and written enquiries received since April 1995 are shown in Appendix G on our web version.

 

 
The following chart presents a breakdown by types of written enquiries received in 2009-10. In this year, we continued to achieve the provision of a full reply to customers within one month from the date of receipt of a written enquiry for more than 98 per cent of the cases, meeting our performance pledge.
 

Reassessment of TES Rate and Discharge Factor
Non-domestic consumers may apply for reassessment of the TES rate or discharge factor if they consider that their effluent strength or discharge factor is lower than the corresponding values specified in the Ordinance. The validity period for the reassessed TES rate is three years.

The number of applications for reassessment of the TES rate and the discharge factor in 2009-10 were 311 and 30 respectively. The number of cases approved for reassessment of TES rate and discharge factor in 2009-10 were 126 and 18 respectively. The distribution of applications for reassessment of TES rate (COD reassessment) in 2009-10 by business classification is shown in the following chart.
 
 

Business Reclassification
If a customer has changed his/her business type or considers that the business classification assigned is incorrect, he/she should submit an application for review. In 2009-10, 210 such cases were processed. The number of applications for business reclassification handled in past years are shown in Appendix G on our web version.

 
Billing and Consumption Statistics
There are about 2.75 million water accounts of which about 2.55 million are liable to pay sewage charge.
 
 
In the non-domestic category, about 19,800 accounts are liable to pay TES as they are operating one of the 27 trades designated in the Sewage Services (TES) Regulation. The distribution of TES accounts by trade types is shown in the following chart.
 
Revenue and Expenditure
The revenue and expenditure in the Sewage Services Operating Accounts for the past five years are summarized in the Table below:
 
 

The total revenue from sewage charge and TES for 2009-10 was higher than the year 2008-09. The net increase of $54 million on overall sewage services revenue was mainly due to the increase in sewage charge rate from $1.31 to $1.43 per cubic metre with effect from 1 April 2009. As compared with 2008-09, the overall expenditure excluding depreciation increased by $104 million and the depreciation increased by $11 million mainly due to increase in operating expenses and commissioning of new facilities. As a result, the deficit of sewage services for 2009-10 was $1,265 million which was $60 million higher than that of 2008-09.