Icod de los Vinos plans to raise the price of water by 60% due to losses of millions of euros.

The government of the city of Icod de los Vinos (Alternativa Icodense-PSOE party) plans to raise the price of water by 60%. They say that the tariff has not changed for 13 years, and because of this, the city treasury has lost about 10 million euros in the last 5 years.

A city council report dated August 6, 2025, states that the economy has changed, but the price of water has not.

For example, a family that currently pays 28 euros per month for water will pay 44.8 euros. This will happen if the deputies support the new rules at the commission meeting next Tuesday, and then at the vote in September.

But the report also cites other reasons for the lack of money. It also mentions problems with water management, which is handled by the local company Icodemsa. For example, the number of meters is growing very slowly: from 11,717 in 2022 to 11,841 last year.

"Since 2018, we have been asking Icodemsa to provide information on verified meters that are not in the register, but we have not received it," the report says. It also became known that some meters have been connected illegally for more than 10 years. People find out about this when they apply to the city council to process documents, for example, when buying or selling a house. It turns out that they use water, but do not pay for it.

In addition, there are problems with money management. For example, in the last year, the company earned 1,390,151 euros, and spent 3,638,725 euros on water. That is, the losses amounted to 2,248,573 euros.

It turns out that since 2020, the city has been losing an average of more than 2 million euros per year on water. Over the past 5 years, more than 10 million euros have been allocated from the city budget to cover these costs.

The report also advises checking where exactly water is lost in the pipes, replacing old pipes through which the most water leaks, checking reservoirs, reducing employee costs, finding those who steal water, and developing new rules for paying for water.

If these problems are not solved, the price of water will have to be raised by 120-150%. To prevent this from happening, the authorities propose raising the price by 60%. They say that this is legal and financially justified.

The mayor of the city, Javier Sierra, says that due to the new rules, water supply will be transferred to another company, "because Icodemsa was unable to cope with all the necessary investments, reduce water losses and ensure high-quality water supply."

The mayor hopes that people will understand why this happened, and realizes that this may affect his political career. "Raising taxes is always bad, but I, as mayor, must provide people with the most necessary things. In this case, to ensure that they have water. If raising the price and putting things in order with water improves people's lives, I will know that I am doing the right thing," says Javier Sierra.