Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, published its financial statements for the first quarter of 2023 yesterday, showing a net profit of NIS 51 million, compared with a net profit of NIS 75 million for the same period last year. The decline in net profit was due to an expenditure of NIS 50 million, as part of the company’s contribution to reducing the water tariff, among other reasons.
Company results show that total revenue for the reporting period amounted to NIS 924 million, a decline of slightly more than 1% compared to total revenue in the first quarter of 2022, when the company recorded revenues of NIS 939 million. The decrease is primarily attributed to a decline in revenues from private water producers and a reduction of 1.7% in water rates.
A segmentation of national consumption data reveals that during the reporting period, there was an increase of 21.5% in total water consumption in the agricultural sector, while water consumption for the household sector increased by 4.6% in the first quarter.
A summary of the data for the reporting period indicates that total water consumption amounted to 324 million cubic meters, compared with total consumption of about 296 million cu.m. at the beginning of 2022, a weighted increase of about 9.3%.
Water supply to the Palestinian Authority
At the same time, the water supply to the Palestinian Authority and Jordan recorded an increase of 2.5% between the first quarter of 2023 and the corresponding quarter of 2022, from 41 to 42 million cu.m.
“Mekorot continues its development momentum in order to continue to ensure reliable and quality water supply to the residents of Israel and its neighbors,” Mekorot CEO Amit Lang said. “Last March, we announced the establishment of an international water forum as part of the UN Water Conference, and explained that in an era of global warming, the countries of the world look to Israel and learn how the small, desert country has become a water superpower, by, among other things, assimilating technological and innovative tools.”
Yitzhak Aharonovitch, chairman Mekorot’s board of directors, concluded that “the company faces many challenges, including increasing the supply to residents of Israel and neighboring countries, while the development of residential and commercial areas depends on a stable and fast connection to the national water system in all regions of the country.”
