The failure to account for the number of people in a household in cost calculations for water supply, sewerage, and waste disposal creates unfair difficulties for large families in Portrugal
By: The Portuguese Large Families Association (APFN)
In Portugal, large families are being unfairly charged for basic services like water supply, sewerage, and waste disposal. The reason? Most pricing systems don’t take into account how many people live in a household.
The second edition of a national comparative study by the Portuguese Large Families Association (APFN) examined disparities between small and large families in utility pricing for water supply, sewerage, and waste disposal. The study found that price differences for the same amount of consumption can reach almost €2,400 per year between small and large families, meaning that large families are penalized for even when their per capita usage is the same. At large, APFN found a general increase in prices as well as an increase in comparative injustice between large and small families.
Within Portugal, even when consumption per capita is the same, the price paid for utilities on a per cubic meter basis can vary substantially depending on the municipality of residence and the size of the family. In Portugal, most water supply tariffs are tiered to penalize waste, but do not take into account the number of people in the household. The result is a disparity that unfairly impacts large families.
For example, a single-person household pays an average of €0.55 per cubic meter of water. But in a household with 10 people using the same amount of water per person, the cost rises to €1.13 per cubic meter — an increase of more than 105%.
Sewerage charges are also unfair. Larger families pay more per cubic meter for wastewater treatment, with prices ranging from €0.44 to €0.73. Waste disposal is no better: only 56 municipalities (18.2%) offer special family pricing for garbage collection.
There has been some progress. In 2024, six more municipalities introduced family tariffs for water, bringing the total to 240 (77.9%). Sewerage family tariffs are now available in 217 municipalities (70.4%), a positive development compared to 2023, with four more municipalities adopting this type of tariff.
The APFN reinforces that family tariffs must be effectively corrective, which does not happen in many cases. APFN has been analyzing the problem of the lack of equity in Water supply tariffs in Portugal since 2015, calling for government calculation standards to account for large families and reduce inequity in utility pricing.