From January 2025, residents of the Quimper agglomeration will have to face a significant increase in their water bill, with an average increase of 10% per year until 2028. An increase justified by the necessary renovation of the aging water and sanitation networks, but which risks further suffocating taxpayers, already burdened by soaring daily costs.
An unbearable burden for households
For a household of four people, this increase will represent an additional expense of €165 per year by 2028. For example, the annual subscription will increase from €30.69 to €80, while the price per cubic meter of water will reach €5.16 including tax. Although elected officials insist that prices will remain below the regional average, this brutal increase adds to generalized inflation. Wages and incomes are stagnating while the costs of energy, mutual funds, insurance, and basic necessities are exploding. Thus, no Quimperois salary will suddenly increase by 10% per year until 2028.
An aging network but questionable choices
Certainly, modernization work is essential to ensure continuity of service and avoid major disruptions like those that have already occurred. The Quimper Western Brittany network, with its 1,750 km of drinking water pipes and 750 km of wastewater networks, requires urgent renovation, particularly at the Corniguel wastewater treatment plant. However, these investments come late. Recommendations made in 2011 have not been followed up, requiring today a “brutal catch-up”, in the words of local elected officials.
This situation raises questions about the agglomeration’s budgetary priorities. While taxpayers will have to absorb these increases, significant expenditure is made to subsidize multiple associations or finance non-priority projects. Households, for their part, have to face ever higher bills without seeing their income increase at the same rate.
The consequences for public services
Beyond the direct financial impact on households, this increase in prices also risks affecting local businesses, particularly those consuming more than 6,000 m³ per year. The gradual elimination of tariff reduction could weaken their competitiveness, in an already tense economic context.
Finally, for the most modest households, measures such as the “water check” or monthly payment of bills are announced. However, these measures appear insignificant given the scale of the burden imposed, and constitute once again the act of taking money from taxpayers and redistributing it to others. In the end, you always pay.
A warning for local authorities
This increase in water prices in Quimper illustrates a worrying trend: local authorities, faced with aging infrastructure and regulatory pressures, are increasingly transferring costs to already exhausted taxpayers. This model risks becoming untenable, especially when elected officials seem to ignore the real priorities of residents in favor of questionable spending.
Photo credit: DR
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