JORHAT, July 16: The Jorhat Municpal Board has hiked the quarterly water tariffs from the current Rs 20 to Rs 100. According to the civic body, the increase by five times has become inevitable due to the surge in electricity bills after the installation of digital meters at the five water supply projects operated by it in the town. Chairman Prasanta Kumar Borah said that JMB is footing a power bill which is upwards of Rs 1.80 lakh on account of the water supply projects. Before the installation of digital meters, the bill used to hover around Rs 70,000. "With the increase in the prices of chemicals and the hefty power bills, we are left with no other option than to raise the water tariffs,' he stressed. JMB has so far incurred losses to the tune of Rs 4 lakh after the increase in the electricity bills. The JMB chairman pointed out that Assam Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which also supplies drinking water to consumers in the town, charges Rs 320 per month. Compared to this, the JMB tariff, which works out to around Rs 33 per month, is still minimal, Borah reasoned. "We also have plans to improve the quality of water supplied through the JMB projects so that the consumers do not have any reasons to complain,' he stated. JMB operates the water supply projects at Bhogdoi, Pujadubi, KKB Road , Sonar Gaon and Macharhat. The Bhogdoi water supply is the biggest and all the five projects taken together have about 3,000 consumers.