The Water Consortium sets a single high-pressure water rate

The Provincial Water Consortium of Castellón has definitively approved the fiscal ordinance regulating the fee for the provision of the bulk water supply service, merging into a single regulatory text the ordinances of the original consortia of Aguas de la Plana and Pla de l’Arc. The regulation is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Castellón number 110, dated September 12, 2026, with the official reference 04030-2026-U, and will enter into force the day following its publication.

The initial agreement was adopted in the Plenary of the Consortium on July 16, 2026, and the file was submitted for public consultation via an announcement inserted in BOP number 88, dated July 23, 2026, for a period of thirty business days for the submission of claims and suggestions. As no allegations were made, the initial agreement is understood to be definitively adopted, in accordance with Article 49 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime.

A single price for the entire territorial scope

The ordinance sets a uniform bulk water price of 0.1785 euros per cubic meter (VAT not included), calculated as the quotient between the sum of the variable costs of all current operating contracts and the total volume of water supplied. According to Article 5.e) of the Consortium’s Statutes, this single price applies to all member entities throughout the territorial scope.

Fixed costs are estimated at 1,128,170.45 euros per year (VAT not included) and are distributed among the member entities in direct proportion to the annual volume of water to which they are entitled, pursuant to Article 28.2 of the Statutes. Variable costs, for their part, are distributed in proportion to the volume of bulk water supplied to each entity.

Fixed and variable costs

The taxable base of the fee consists of the actual or foreseeable cost of the service, broken down into fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are considered to be structural expenses that do not depend on the volume supplied, such as personnel, conservation, maintenance, analysis, fuels, control, the power term of the energy cost, and depreciation. Variable costs include the energy term, reagents, and any item that depends on the volume consumed.

The management provides for two types of settlement:

• For fixed costs, by calendar semester, preferably in January and July, with an amount of 50% of the annual total in each.
• For variable costs, by calendar semesters, based on the cubic meters consumed applying the single price.

Supply control is always carried out with a general meter, and consumption is determined by the difference between readings of two consecutive billing periods. Debts not settled during the voluntary period will be demanded through the enforcement procedure (procedimiento de apremio).

Affected Municipalities and Users

The taxpayers of the fee are the city councils of the 24 municipalities that make up the Consortium, as well as individual users. The member municipalities are:

• Onda, Vila-real, Burriana, Les Alqueries, Betxí, La Vilavella, Nules, La Vall d’Uixó, Moncófa, Xilxes, La Llosa, Benlloc, Cabanes, La Pobla Tornesa, La Torre d’en Domènec, Vall d’Alba, Vilafamés, Vilanova d’Alcolea, Atzeneta del Maestrat, Benafigos, Culla, La Torre d’en Besora, Les Useres, and Vilar de Canes.

The public company Aeropuerto de Castellón, S.L. (AEROCAS) is considered an individual user. When the service is managed by supply companies, the city council will notify the Consortium if the bulk water supply is part of the contract, in which case the awarded commercial entity will be the taxpayer. Any entity that joins the Consortium subsequently will automatically acquire the status of user.

The ordinance repeals the tax ordinances for the bulk water fee of the Consorcio de Aguas de la Plana (BOP no. 81, of June 29, 2023) and the Consorcio de Aguas Pla de l’Arc (BOP no. 105, of August 24, 2023), which had been applied transitionally. The document is signed by the president of the Consortium, Marta Barrachina Mateu, and the secretary, Montserrat Paricio Comins, dated September 10, 2026.

The unification of tariffs into a single text and a single price represents a significant step for the management of bulk water in the province, by homogenizing the tax regime of the former consortia and guaranteeing the supply to the member municipalities and the Castellón airport. For the affected city councils, the regulation clearly establishes the fixed and variable costs they must assume, with a direct impact on the water bill that reaches the citizens.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Castellón, number 110, of September 12, 2026, Local Administration / Consortia section (official reference: 04030-2026-U).