The Government of the City of Tokyo has announced that during the four months of summer The basic water rate will be free For the entire population of the capital. The measure will affect 14 million inhabitants, will cover invoices between 860 and 1,460 monthly yen (about 6 and 10 dollars) and will have a total cost of 36.8 billion yen (Approximately 260 million dollars).
The main reason behind this measure is the dramatic situation that the city went through last summer. Temperatures were almost two degrees above the average of the last 35 years, in a heat wave that resulted as a consequence of 8,000 hospitalizations per insolation and 263 deaths. It was verified that in 60% of the cases, those affected had not turned on the air conditioning because they could not pay it.
The intention of the Japanese authorities is that citizens can spend what they save from the water bill to cool their houses. To emphasize that only the basic water rate is eliminated, citizens will still have to continue paying, on the one hand, this service. The Government has chosen to reduce the water rate by not having management capacity in the electricity rate, which is in the hands of private companies.
Since the announcement of this policy, criticisms have happened inside and outside Tokyo, since its own population, for leaving the high electrical invoice intact. In addition, in other parts of the country have demanded that the central government apply similar measuressince high temperatures also affect other regions.
