We encourage all customers to opt to create an online account in the MyCAS application which provides access to all invoices and the ability to make payments online.
Given the current context, we strongly recommend that you use remote methods to pay your bills.
Thank you for your understanding!
Prices and tariffs
The price for drinking water and the tariff for sewerage/water treatment, from January 1st, 2025, throughout the operating area of Cluj, Sălaj and Mureș counties:
– Drinking water produced and distributed directly to consumers: 6.52 lei/mc with 9% VAT
– Wastewater collection/treatment: 6,92 lei/mc with VAT 9%
The price/tariff has been approved by the National Regulatory Authority for Public Utility Services by Decision No 288 of September 2024.
Tariff for storm water collection
Stormwater (rainfall) falling on the users’ property is taken into the public sewerage system together with domestic wastewater. The pricing of this service takes into account not only the intake into the sewerage system but also the fact that, together with domestic waste water, it must be treated before being returned to the environment.
A large part of the sewage and stormwater treatment service charge you pay on your bills is the cost of the complex process of treating it.
According to Art. 48 (1) of the Water Supply and Sewerage Service Regulation approved by Decision no. 12/27.09.2010 of the ADI (Regional Association for the Development of Infrastructure in the Someș-Tisa River Basin, acting on behalf of and for the public authorities shareholders of the Company in the operating area) based on the provisions of the Water Supply and Sewerage Service Framework Regulation approved by Order no. 88 of 20 March 2007 issued by the National Regulatory Authority for Public Municipal Services, the quantity of storm water taken from the sewerage system shall be determined on the basis of a formula which takes into account the total areas of built and unbuilt premises of the customer’s property and the quantity of storm water reported by the N.W.A. for the month preceding the billing, according to the formula:
Qp = S ⋅Φ⋅ip where:
S – the total built and unbuilt area, as proved by the user (noted in the CF extract or in another document proving the ownership of the building;
Φ – Equivalent runoff coefficient which also takes into account the duration of the rainfall;
ip – monthly precipitation amount reported by the NMA.
The equivalent rainfall runoff and duration coefficients by consumer type are :
- a) 0,20 for household consumers (single-family houses);
- b) 0.70 for owners/tenants associations (multi-family buildings);
- c) 0.60 for consumers of the economic agent or budgetary institutions type;
- d) 0.50 for the public domain.
The sewerage tariff applies to this formula.
Polluter pays’ is the European principle that polluting economic operators pay extra charges to the sewerage treatment service for exceeding the discharge levels resulting from their own activity.
These tariffs were established on the basis of legal provisions (Law no. 241/2006 on public water supply and sewerage services), ANRSC opinion no. 2379778/23/05/2012 and Decision no. 8/30.10.2012 of the Regional Association for Water Supply and Sewerage Services (ANRSC). Infrastructure Development in the Someș – Tisa River Basin.
For economic operators falling into these categories of polluters, the sewerage – treatment tariff will be determined by adding the approved sewerage – treatment tariff to the additional tariff according to the risk group.
The tariffs applied, as of 1 January 2013 (according to ARDIBHST Decision no. 8/31.10.2012), are as follows:
- 0,28 lei/mc + VAT for risk group I*
- 0,53 RON/mc + VAT for risk group II**
*Risk Group I – agents monitored for. organic loadings, pH, TSS (total suspended solids), fat and ammonia nitrogen (NH4+).
**Risk Group II – loads of toxic pollutants, phenols, metals, cyanides, sulphides, pH, MTS, petroleum substances, detergents.
Price/tariff adjustment procedure
Currently there is a single price/tariff for the entire area served by the regional operator SOMES S.A. Water Company (CASSA) in the two counties: Cluj and Salaj.
In the period 2018-2023 during the implementation of the major investment project under the POIM 2014-2020 (Large Infrastructure Operational Programme), the Somes Water Company S.A. is obliged to annually adjust prices/tariffs according to a tariff strategy approved by the ADI (Regional Association for the Development of Infrastructure in the Somes-Tisa River Basin).
The adjustment and modification of prices and tariffs charged by C.A.S.S.A. shall be made according to endorsement by A.N.R.S.C. – National Regulatory Authority for Community Utilities Services – and approval by the Association for the Development of Infrastructure in the Someș-Tisa River Basin (ADI) which represents and acts on behalf of and for the local authorities shareholders of the Company.
Why have water and sewerage become more expensive?
The water company SOMES S.A. has attracted from 1997 to date five programmes co-financed by the European Union for the modernisation and extension of the water supply and sewerage/water treatment infrastructure for a total amount of about 670 MILLION EURO, of which approx. 75% is grant funding but approx. 25% is represented by bank loans from international financial institutions (EBRD, EIB) to be repaid. In the period 2018-2023, CASSA is implementing the fifth major project of this kind, worth 404.4 million Euro, aimed at modernizing and extending the infrastructure to those who, on the threshold of the 21st century, in Cluj-Napoca and in other areas served by our society, do not benefit from these essential utilities for a civilized life. We mention that in order to attract and carry out these investments, SOMES Water Company has benefited from the constant and sustained support of all public authorities that own the water and sewage infrastructure in the localities served in Cluj and Salaj counties.
The reason for the need to adjust the prices/tariffs lies in the need to comply with the annual plan for the evolution of water and sewerage tariffs (tariff strategy) for the period 2017-2023, according to the decision no. 12/2.10.2018 of the Regional Association for the Development of Infrastructure in the Someș-Tisa River Basin, as well as the need to meet the conditions of the Financing Contract no. 225 related to the POIM Cluj-Sălaj programme, concluded between the Ministry of European Funds and Someș Water Company S.A.
Each annual price/tariff adjustment in the period 2017-2023 is approved by ANRSC (National Regulatory Agency for Community Utilities Services).
We mention a very important fact, namely that the plans for adjustment/increase of prices/tariffs established by the above-mentioned normative acts were elaborated and approved after a study of social support by the population of the prices/tariffs envisaged, taking into account the financial situation of the most disadvantaged social categories.
SOMES Water Company, as a Public Service, does not have the regime of a private company and does not aim to make profit, all financial resources obtained from the collection of invoices issued are used exclusively for the operation and modernization of infrastructure and for the functioning of the company. Instead, prices/fees should reflect the real economic cost of providing these services and repayment of the credit parts of the investment programmes.
The operation of the modernized infrastructure through the mentioned investment programs, in particular water purification plants and wastewater treatment plants for domestic, rainwater and industrial wastewater, involves higher costs than the previous ones, which occasionally did not allow for adequate protection of the environment and public and community health, due to situations where the levels set by Romanian regulations and European Directives were exceeded in relation to some parameters of discharges into outfalls.
Also, the operation of the new water and sewerage networks established through these investment programmes for the relatively large number of inhabitants who do not yet benefit from water or sewerage, involves additional costs.