The National Assembly yesterday passed a law allowing the government to hike electricity and water charges for expatriates after completely excluding Kuwaiti citizens. But the application of the new charges will not take effect before Sept 2017, according to the law which states that it will be applied on apartment buildings after 15 months of its publication in the official gazette. Forty-eight MPs, including ministers, voted in favor of the law, while eight lawmakers opposed it. This is the second and final vote on the law as the first reading was approved two weeks ago.   The law was passed after clearing the last hurdle of adding Kuwaitis residing in apartments to their counterparts living in villas to the exemption list. The law states that Kuwaiti families living in apartment buildings are exempted unless they have other houses. The exemption applies to only one house. A number of MPs called for exempting several houses for those Kuwaitis who are married to more than one wife, but the Assembly rejected the motion. According to the law, the hike in electricity and water tariffs applies to apartment buildings (expatriates only), the commercial sector, industrial and agricultural sectors and government offices. It applies after one year on commercial activities, which will be charged a flat rate of 25 fils per kilowatt. On government offices, it applies after 18 months and after 21 months on industrial and agricultural activities.(Kuwait Times)