Subsidising basic sanitation tariffs

The main objective of this book is to discuss the need to apply subsidies to the tariffs of municipalities without solvency, in order to guarantee economically and financially balanced contracts for the provision of water and sewage services. Law 11.445/2007 provides for a change in the legal understanding of the application of cross-subsidisation, since, following the STF decision, ownership of services of general interest, including basic sanitation in metropolitan regions, micro-regions and urban agglomerations, is no longer the exclusive preserve of municipalities. Thus, it is necessary to find new alternatives to make up for the shortfall in locations whose users do not have the ability to pay compatible with economic and financial self-sufficiency, as well as to ascertain the extent to which the lack of alternatives entails a violation of fundamental rights. These are extremely important points for understanding the problem, which will help in the search for alternative solutions to cross-subsidisation, in order to maintain the provision of basic services even without the ability of any population to pay.