Court suspends increase in water bill.

Bahia 247 - Judge Ruy Brito, head of the 6th Public Treasury Court, accepted a popular action proposed by the leader of the DEM party in the Legislative Assembly, Deputy Pablo Barrozo, and ordered the Basic Sanitation Regulatory Agency of Bahia (Agersa) to suspend the increase in the water bill amount, approved on April 29th.

The decision will take effect from this Wednesday (1st), under penalty of a daily fine of R$ 50 thousand. Agersa authorized Embasa to adjust by 9,95%, which the parliamentarian considered abusive.

In his decision, the judge accepted Barrozo's arguments, including the fact that this is the fifth consecutive increase granted by Embasa with percentages above inflation, "affecting many consumers who will not be able to pay their monthly bills."

Inflation from April 2015 to the same month in 2016, according to the IPCA (Brazilian Consumer Price Index), was 9,28% (the percentage reaches 9,83% according to the INPC - Brazilian Consumer Price Index). According to the judge, based on the deputy's lawsuit, the successive abusive readjustments directly violate "the principle of tariff moderation, because it imposed a disproportionate increase on society and, on the other hand, exorbitantly increases the concessionaire's profits."

The judge also acknowledged that Agersa did not provide adequate publicity or justification for the increase decreed at the end of April, and that it did not take into account the delicate economic and political climate, especially when it comes to water, a vital resource for human life.

"The objective of this increase was to ensure an arbitrary rise in Embasa's profits, harming consumers, who are still far from having a quality service in the area, as evidenced by the constant interruptions in supply, including in large cities like Salvador. Therefore, the Justice system deserves praise for accepting our lawsuit," says Pablo Barrozo.