The cost inversion hypothesis
Do households without a piped connection pay more per litre — buying from tanker trucks — than households billed under the regulated tariff?
Status, given the data SUNASS’s 2026 study finds that unconnected households in the surveyed periurban districts pay about six times more per cubic metre than a connected household — and about six times more for the same 6.4 m³ (S/ 141.20 against about S/ 24.00).
This is a question, not a claim. If the figures do not support it, that is what this page will say.
Piped-water coverage by district
Boundary layer not present, so no map is drawn. Approximate or borrowed shapes are never invented to fill this space.
88.4 %
Households connected to the public network
of all households
6.5 %
Households buying from tanker trucks
of all households
92.5 %
Households with water every day
of households asked about daily service
Connected means a public-network connection inside the dwelling or inside the building. A public standpipe is public-network water but not a household connection, so it is counted separately and excluded from this figure.
Share of households connected to the public network
per cent of households · census 2017
- < 50 %
- 50 – 75 %
- 75 – 90 %
- 90 – 97 %
- ≥ 97 %
- no published row
Point at a district to read it.
Cost per litre: on the network and off it
The regulated tariff and tanker-price layers are not present, so no cost comparison is shown.
SUNASS’s 2026 study finds that unconnected households in the surveyed periurban districts pay about six times more per cubic metre than a connected household — and about six times more for the same 6.4 m³ (S/ 141.20 against about S/ 24.00).
- Unconnected household, per cubic metreS/ 22.11 · 2025Average across the surveyed sample · study p. 23
- Connected household, per cubic metreS/ 3.20 · 2025Stated as “approximately” by the study · p. 23
- Unconnected household, a monthS/ 141.20 · 2025Average monthly spend · study p. 23
- Connected household, the same volumeS/ 24.00 · 2025What the same volume costs on the network · p. 23
- The volume being compared6.4 m³Monthly purchase of an unconnected household · p. 23
Survey of 800 households in 16 periurban districts of Lima and Callao, margin of error ±3.5 % at 95 % confidence. Every figure is an average over that sample; the study publishes no per-district figure.
Two vintages on one screen: coverage is the 2017 census, prices are the 2025 survey and the tariff published in 2025. They are never read as one year.
The regulated tariff, as published
Tariff as published on 23 December 2025 (RCD 00145-2025-SUNASS-CD). A later resolution may have modified it; this page does not claim the tariff in force today.
The regulated tariff is published in two structures: one for every district SEDAPAL serves, and one for four southern beach districts — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo and Santa María del Mar. Prices are per cubic metre, before IGV, with a fixed charge of S/ 6.32 a month, as published on 23 December 2025. The page shows them as published; it derives no district’s cost.
| Structure | Category | Block (m³/month) | Water (S/ per m³) | Saneamiento (S/ per m³) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Social | 0 and above | S/ 1.92 | S/ 0.90 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Doméstico | 0 to 10 | S/ 2.20 | S/ 1.38 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Doméstico | 10 to 20 | S/ 2.36 | S/ 1.48 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Doméstico | 20 to 50 | S/ 3.22 | S/ 1.98 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Doméstico | 50 and above | S/ 7.32 | S/ 3.49 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Doméstico subsidiado | 0 to 10 | S/ 1.92 | S/ 0.90 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Doméstico subsidiado | 10 to 20 | S/ 2.36 | S/ 1.48 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Doméstico subsidiado | 20 to 50 | S/ 3.22 | S/ 1.98 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Doméstico subsidiado | 50 and above | S/ 7.32 | S/ 3.49 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Comercial y otros | 0 to 1,000 | S/ 8.82 | S/ 4.21 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Comercial y otros | 1,000 and above | S/ 9.46 | S/ 4.51 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Industrial | 0 and above | S/ 9.46 | S/ 4.51 |
| Grupo 1 — all districts SEDAPAL serves except the four below | Estatal | 0 and above | S/ 5.80 | S/ 2.68 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Social | 0 and above | S/ 1.92 | S/ 0.90 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Doméstico | 0 to 10 | S/ 2.87 | S/ 1.76 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Doméstico | 10 to 20 | S/ 3.22 | S/ 1.98 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Doméstico | 20 and above | S/ 7.32 | S/ 3.49 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Doméstico subsidiado | 0 to 10 | S/ 1.92 | S/ 0.90 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Doméstico subsidiado | 10 to 20 | S/ 2.87 | S/ 1.76 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Doméstico subsidiado | 20 to 50 | S/ 3.22 | S/ 1.98 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Doméstico subsidiado | 50 and above | S/ 7.32 | S/ 3.49 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Comercial y otros | 0 to 1,000 | S/ 8.82 | S/ 4.21 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Comercial y otros | 1,000 and above | S/ 9.46 | S/ 4.51 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Industrial | 0 and above | S/ 9.46 | S/ 4.51 |
| Grupo 2 — Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Santa María del Mar | Estatal | 0 and above | S/ 5.80 | S/ 2.68 |
Saneamiento is sanitary sewerage (52 %) plus wastewater treatment (48 %), as the resolution states it — it is not sewerage alone. Figures exclude IGV and the Impuesto de Promoción Municipal. A fixed charge of S/ 6.32 a month applies on top, as published in 2025.
The rest of what the study publishes
- Share of household income spent on water9 %study p. 26
- Affordability threshold (PNUD, 2006)3 %study p. 26
- Annual overspend against a connected householdS/ 1,406.40 · 2025study p. 23
- Unconnected households supplied by tanker94.7 %study p. 3
- The same share in 201588 %study p. 3
- Monthly spend in 2015S/ 72.00 · 2025study p. 22
- Tanker price per cubic metre in 2015S/ 15.00 · 2025study p. 22
- Monthly consumption, subsidised household17.06 m³study p. 22
- Monthly consumption, doméstica household30.0 m³study p. 22
Tanker prices are the thinnest layer on this route. Where a source gives a range, this page plots the range; where it publishes a single figure, the page shows that figure as the source states it — an average over a sample, with its year — never as a precision claim.
Districts
| District | Ubigeo | Piped coverage | Tanker | Pays tanker | Daily service | Vintage | Source |
|---|
No rows. When a coverage layer is ratified, every district appears here with its own vintage beside it.
Sources
- District boundaries: Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), via OCHA/HDX Common Operational Dataset — CC BY-IGO.
- Water supply, payment and continuity: Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI) — Censos Nacionales 2017: XII de Población, VII de Vivienda y III de Comunidades Indígenas. District-level tabulation retrieved from the REDATAM webserver, 2026-08-23/24.
- Regulated tariff: SUNASS — Resolución de Consejo Directivo N.º 00145-2025-SUNASS-CD, anexo único, published in the diario oficial El Peruano on 23 December 2025 (pp. 37–39). Two structures are published: one for every district SEDAPAL serves, and one for Punta Negra, Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo and Santa María del Mar. Figures exclude IGV and the Impuesto de Promoción Municipal.
- Off-network price: SUNASS, Dirección de Regulación Económica — «Vivir sin agua potable: ¿cómo se abastecen de agua los hogares de las zonas periurbanas de Lima y Callao?», pp. 3, 12, 22–23 and 26. Survey of 800 households with no piped connection across 16 periurban districts of Lima and Callao, 2025; margin of error ±3,5 % at 95 % confidence; fieldwork and data processing by Datum Internacional S.A. as the study credits it. Every figure is an average over that sample; the study publishes no per-district figure.
No sources recorded yet. A layer with no license line does not ship.
Method
- What is measured
- district boundaries · census coverage by supply type · the regulated tariff · tanker prices · service continuity
- What is assumed
- Nothing is converted here. The per-cubic-metre comparison is the study’s own, made at a single volume — 6.4 m³ a month — and the regulated tariff is shown as published, never turned into a per-litre figure by this page.
- What is missing
- households