the goods and services provided by utilities so that there is effective competition when competition is introduced in each utility sector and protection of users from abuses of monopoly positions is ensured because certain public utility sectors have a monopoly over the market. Facilitate and encourage private sector participation in investments in public utilities; Ensure compliance by public utilities with the laws governing their activities. The purpose of the agency's water and sanitation department is to: regulate in a way that promotes fair competition, sustainable and efficient use of water resources; ensure better quality of services to customers at fair prices; ensure effective protection of environment by enforcing wastes disposal and by-products treatment regulations. In practice, according to the agency's annual reports up to 2004, it seems that the regulatory agency focused much of its activities in the water and sanitation sector on the supervision of the management contract for Electrogaz (now EWSA). Service provision Urban areas. The Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) is in charge of urban water supply and sanitation in Rwanda. Its predecessor EWSA had more than 118,000 water customers in 2013, up from only 38,500 in 2005. Rural areas. There are 847 piped rural water systems in Rwanda and 19,300 protected springs. Most of the piped water systems are pumped systems, as opposed to gravity systems, since in Rwanda many settlements are at higher altitude than the water sources serving them. Many systems serve a large number of villages: The largest ones serve up to 120,000 people living in villages dozens of kilometers apart. Almost all users are served through water sales points where water is sold or given away for free by the bucket. House connections are rare in rural areas. Services in rural areas are provided by community-based organizations (about 650 systems), by private operators under contract with district governments (about 140 systems) and privately owned systems (about 60), most of which were privately owned since at least 2000. Financial aspects Tariffs Rural areas. Water tariffs in rural areas are usually measured by jerrycan (bucket) for water sold at water kiosks or public standposts. In rural water systems managed by private operators in 2004 the water tariffs per jerrycan of 20 liters varied between 14 and 25 Rwandan Franc (RWF), equivalent to about 2.5 to 4.5 US cents per jerrycan or US$1.25 – 2.25 per cubic meter, according to the Utilities Regulatory Agency. However,