New water rates approved in Sant Antoni de Portmany

The Plenary of the Sant Antoni de Portmany Town Council has definitively approved the modification of the ordinance setting the rates for the municipal drinking water supply and sanitation, managed by the company Aguas del Torrente des Furnás S.A. The agreement, adopted at the ordinary session of 30 July 2026, is published in the Official Bulletin of the Balearic Islands (No. 101, of 13 August 2026), with document number 8093, and will affect the bills of residents and businesses in the area.

The ordinance regularises the tariff regime of the company Aguas del Torrente des Furnás S.A., which provides the service as a «de facto concessionaire», without any administrative title supporting the delegated management. The scope extends from the old Sant Mateu road and the Montecristo industrial estate to the Can Xicu Musson neighbourhood and the outskirts of Sant Rafael. The file was initiated by the Mayor’s Office ruling of 19 December 2024 and includes the technical-economic report of the head of the Environment department, with the approval of the municipal Comptroller of 17 February 2025, and the Secretary’s report of 4 April 2025.

A «de facto concessionaire» regularised by ordinance

The legal framework is based on Law 7/1985, of 2 April, regulating the Bases of Local Government, which assigns to municipalities the drinking water supply and wastewater treatment. Since there is no concession contract with the company, case law —such as the STS of 28 October 1993— supports administrative intervention over such companies, and Report 76/2021 of the State Consultative Board for Public Contracting recalls that no party may unduly enrich itself. The ordinance is thus justified by the principles of legality, equality, transparency and citizen participation.

Service charge: new rates by meter calibre

The service charge, billed monthly per subscriber, rises with the new tariff according to the calibre of the meter:

13 mm: from 2.9750 to €8.21/month
15 mm: from 4.4655 to €12.24/month
20 mm: from 7.4405 to €19.81/month
25 mm: from 10.4155 to €22.77/month
30 mm: from 14.8750 to €36.87/month
40 mm: from 29.7501 to €57.30/month
50 mm: from 44.6251 to €97.97/month
65 mm: from a fee not provided for to €128.56/month

Consumption: three more expensive quarterly blocks

The consumption tariff is now structured in quarterly blocks, with a price per cubic metre that increases with the volume used:

Block 1 (0-30 m³/quarter): €1.56/m³
Block 2 (30-60 m³/quarter): €1.99/m³
Block 3 (60-90 m³/quarter): €2.38/m³

The new prices replace the current tariff, which ranged between 0.5589 and 0.8354 euros per cubic metre depending on monthly consumption.

Validity, provisional nature and appeals

The ordinance will enter into force fifteen days after its full publication in the BOIB and is provisional in nature: it will remain in force until the City Council agrees to establish the municipal water supply and sanitation service in these areas. The management and settlement of the tariffs will be carried out in accordance with the contracts that the company maintains with its subscribers. An administrative contentious appeal may be lodged against the agreement before the Administrative Contentious Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands, based in Palma, within two months from the day following publication, in accordance with Article 46 of Law 29/1998, of 13 July. The announcement is electronically signed by the mayor, Marcos Serra Colomar, on 7 August 2026.

The new ordinance involves a substantial increase in the fixed fee — which is tripled in the most common calibers — and a rise in the price per cubic meter consumed, with a direct impact on the bills of households and establishments in Can Xicu Musson, Sant Rafael and the Montecristo industrial estate. Until the service is municipalised, the approved text establishes the tariff framework that subscribers in the area must assume.

Source: Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands, No. 101, 13 August 2026, Section I, pp. 44110-44112 (official reference: No. 8093).