Manx Utilities Authority hopes to raise annual sewerage bills rate by 50%

Island households are facing a sharp rise in their annual bills for sewerage.

The Manx Utilities Authority wants to raise the rate by 50 per cent, from just over 61 pence in the pound, to 92.

The so-called toilet tax was designed as a uniform £50 fee per-household, but after strong opposition, the plan was dropped and a charge based on rateable values was imposed instead. 

MUA chairman Alf Cannan will ask Tynwald to approve the increase for 2016-17 in Tynwald later this month.

Charges were brought in after Treasury ended direct funding for sewerage operations.

The extra revenue will also help repay the MUA's external debt over the next two decades, which currently stands at £260 million.