Municipal housing charges, 2003, January

On a national level the water charge has increased by 6.4 per cent from January 2002 to January 2003. The chimney-sweeping charge rose on average by 5.3 per cent while the charges for sewerage and refuse collection went up 5.0 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

Despite an overall fee increase of 4.3 per cent at a national level, about 10 per cent of the municipalities in the survey reduced their municipal charges since last year. The refuse collection, which showed the lowest growth, was reduced in 15 per cent of the participating municipalities.

Regional dispersions

Families in Northern Norway experienced the greatest increase of 9.7 per cent in the water charge since last survey in January 2002. Trøndelag and Oslo/Akershus had a rise in the water charge of 9.0 and 8.6 per cent respectively. In the region of Hedmark and Oppland the water charge have increased by 2.5 per cent, followed by Agder and Rogaland with a growth of 3.1 per cent. Sewerage charges varied between 11.7 per cent in the region of Trøndelag down to 2.3 per cent in Northern Norway.

The chimney sweeping and refuse collection charges have also demonstrated regional dispersions. The growth rates for the chimney-sweeping charges varied from 8.0 per cent in Agder and Rogaland down to 2.1 per cent in Oslo and Akershus. The refuse collection charge rose by 4.8 per cent in South Eastern Norway, while Trøndelag had a decrease in the refuse collection charge by 2.4 per cent.

Annual survey

The results are based on Statistics Norway's annual survey of municipal residential service charges. The sample of the survey consists entirely of electronic data obtained from the municipalities. These figures are based upon the data received from 348 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. Several municipalities have mixed system based on a fixed and variable part. The refuse collection charge is calculated based on a standard whole-year subscription.