Record water tariff increases finally end, but Europe emerges a new leader
OXFORD, United Kingdom, Sept. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Water Intelligence’s annual Tariff Survey, published on 24th September, found that average global water tariff growth from 2024 to 2025 was 6.2%, putting an end to the record increases seen in the high-inflation post-pandemic years.
Where tariffs are increasing however, the decision is more frequently driven by the needs for long-term investments rather than operational cost recovery, which was driving early post-pandemic increases.
Unusually, Europe is at the forefront of this year’s tariff increase, with new legislation and investments in climate change resilience driving higher-than-usual increases. Two countries join Europe at the top of the increase table, Turkey and Kazakhstan, with both countries taking seven of the ten spots for top increases in 2025. Apart from these two outliers, tariff growth in Asia and the Middle East is sluggish however, and tariffs remain amongst the lowest in the world.
In Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, after sustained growth over the past few years, growth is relatively subdued this year, with notable exceptions such as South Africa and Argentina. As for North America, tariff growth is stable, underpinned in many cities by increases in stormwater charges to cope with more extreme weather events.
As these regions demonstrate, the trend of many cities not changing their tariffs year-on-year is creeping back in 2025. Despite water issues increasingly taking centre stage, tariffs remain highly political, with stakeholders often pushing back despite investment needs.
Become a GWI Member today to access the full dataset, including detailed tariff profiles for 641 cities in 200 countries, in-depth articles, plus all previous tariff survey data dating back to 2011: www.globalwaterintel.com.
About Global Water Intelligence
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