Municipal housing charges, 2002, January

On a national level the water charge has shown the strongest increase by 4.6 per cent from January last year to January this year. There are however only minor differences among the different services at this level. The chimney-sweeping charge rose on average by 4.4 per cent while the charges for sewerage and refuse collection went up 4.2 and 3.8 per cent respectively. The municipal charges have grown faster than the Consumer Price Index, which rose by 1.3 per cent in the same period.

Despite an overall fee increase of 3.9 per cent at a national level, more than 8 per cent of the municipalities have reduced their municipal charges since last year.

Regional dispersions

Households living in the Capital city and in the area of Akershus have experienced only marginal increase in the water charge since January 2001. In the region of Hedmark/Oppland the water charge have increased less than the remaining regions by 3.4 per cent. The South Eastern part of Norway has experienced a considerable increase of 7.8 per cent in the water charge. Sewerage charges varied between 1.9 per cent in the region of Hedmark/Oppland to 6.1 per cent in Northern Norway.

Similarly, the charges for water and sewerage, the chimney-sweeping- and refuse collection charges have also demonstrated vast regional variations. The refuse collection charge has only augmented by 1.4 per cent in the South Eastern part of Norway while the charges in the region Agder/Rogaland have gone up 7.7 per cent. The growth rates for the chimney-sweeping charges varied between 2.9 per cent and 7.5 per cent.

Methodical differences

Results for 2002 are based on Statistics Norway's annual survey of municipal residential service charges. As of 2002, the sample of the survey consists entirely of electronic data obtained from the municipalities. These figures are based upon the data received from 319 municipalities. The municipalities have provided information on technical services such as water, sewerage, refuse collection and chimney sweeping. To obtain comparable figures, the charges for water and sewerage are tied to a standard house of 120 square metres with either stipulated or actual water consumption. In municipalities where the payment is done according to actual use measured by water meter, the price per cubic metre is multiplied by a standard consumption of 175 cubic metres. The refuse collection charge is calculated based on a standard whole-year subscription.