Vélez-Málaga town hall to absorb 40-per-cent hike in water charges

Vélez-Málaga town hall on the eastern Costa del Sol has announced that it will absorb the full 40 per cent increase in the wholesale water price approved in February 2025 by public water company Axaragua, to ensure that this rise does not directly affect residents. This was announced on Monday 1 June by the mayor, Jesús Lupiáñez.

The measure will entail a municipal financial outlay of approximately 3.5 million euros. According to the town hall the aim is to ensure that households, the self-employed and businesses do not have to bear the full brunt of the increase in the cost of water supply, which stems from external factors and the water crisis that has affected the region in recent years.

Lupiáñez said that the town hall's priority is “to protect residents and provide certainty regarding an essential service such as water”. The announcement comes at a particularly sensitive time in the Axarquía, an area that has been marked in recent years by drought, water restrictions, falling water levels in the La Viñuela reservoir and the need to draw on emergency water supplies to ensure the population’s water supply.

However, this situation has been resolved over the past two years, with La Viñuela reservoir now at almost 93 per cent of its capacity, with 152 million cubic metres of water stored thanks to the heavy rainfall in spring 2025 and last winter.

The town hall explained that the tariff update is a necessary adjustment following more than a decade without applying the revisions set out in the contract. Updates had not been implemented since 2015, which led to a shortfall in service costs.

The town hall said that over the years it has made a significant financial effort to avoid direct repercussions on local residents and that it was already covering part of the service’s cost, amounting to around one million euros annually.

The revision is also due to the inclusion of new areas and housing developments in the service that were not initially covered, the price increase applied by Axaragua as the wholesale water supplier and a temporary surcharge resulting from the water supply from Malaga city during the most severe phase of the drought.

Axaragua plays a key role in supplying the municipalities of the Axarquía, particularly in a situation where the traditional system reliant on the La Viñuela reservoir has had to be supplemented by external supplies and emergency measures. The rising cost of water at source is part of this context of greater technical and economic complexity in supply management.