A/HRC/42/47/Add.4 E. Recommendation on disconnection due to incapacity to pay RECOMMENDATION 12: “Adopt a transparent and participatory approach to reviews of water rates, and ensure that the National Water Mains and Sewers Administration carries out research to determine whether progressive block tariffs actually ensure crosssubsidization involving a financial transfer from more affluent persons to the less affluent.” (A/HRC/33/49/Add.1, para. 96(j)). 46. The Special Rapporteur noted during his country visit that, in the years prior to the visit, ANDA has adjusted rates so as to adapt cross-subsidization to enable the agency to balance its budget, and that subsidies were granted according to the category of customer (industrial/commercial, residential/public) and by group of consumer. ANDA rates published in 2015 set the highest increases for households with the highest consumption in order to subsidise people with the lowest incomes. (A/HRC/33/49/Add.1, paras. 65 and 66). 47. One of PLANAPS´ main lines of action with regards to water resources is to raise awareness on the benefits of appropriate tariffs, carrying out promotion and capacity building to establish good practices on water use, water saving and the protection of water resources. PLANAPS recognizes that the current tariff structure “is not balanced, and does not generate enough revenue to recover costs, is poorly focused, benefiting predominantly the non-poor users in urban zones, and that consumers supplied by non-ANDA service providers, pay more than ANDA clients.” 12 PLANAPS proposes a financial strategy to adjust the tariff system taking into consideration the issues mentioned above. The strategy sets as financial and institutional strategy components the defining of a tariff and subsidy policy for the sector based on real costs and capacity to pay, and the development of mechanisms and indicators to monitor service provision. Furthermore, the strategy proposes among its short-term measures, the modification of the tariff model to attribute better focus to crossed subsidies and generate funds through systems expansion; the design of an accounting system to monitor tariffs; the creation of a fund for non-ANDA service providers; and the implementation of a transitional scheme for tariff auditing. However, the application of participatory approaches is not explicitly mentioned. 48. The Special Rapporteur notes the strategy proposed by PLANAPS to overcome the current challenges and inequalities identified in the current tariff and subsidy system. He is, however, disappointed that no specific information has been provided on the adoption of short-term measures contained in the strategy identified in PLANAPS. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur is concerned that the financial system proposed and presented in PLANAPS does not incorporate the application of participatory approaches. Ensuring household participation in the designing of tariffs helps ensure that resources are distributed in order to improve access to water and sanitation services for populations lacking or having inadequate access to such services, and transparent budgeting enables advocacy and accountability within vulnerable or unserved communities. Therefore, despite efforts taken by the Government to tackle persisting inequalities in cross-subsidy, further measures to ensure the effective cross-subsidization, participation of the beneficiary population and transparency within the tariff system, are still necessary to implement the Special Rapporteur´s recommendation. LIMITED PROGRESS: The Special Rapporteur reiterates that the Government adopt a transparent and participatory approach to reviewing water tariffs and assess whether the strategy proposed by PLANAPS is the best way to comply with the principle of affordability in the access to water and sanitation services, both for those supplied and not supplied by ANDA. 12 Government of El Salvador, “Plan Nacional de Agua Potable y Saneamiento, Resumen Ejecutivo Septiembre 2017”, September 2017, at pg. 31. 13