to 27% in 1994, 65% in 1997 and 75% in 2000, despite high levels of inflation. as of 2010, 36% of all users, mainly in groups with low ability to pay, received water free of charge. in 2010 hidrocapital, which serves caracas, charged on average the equivalent of us$0.41 per cubic meter, while its costs were us$0.44 per cubic meter. for 2008, hidroven had a sales revenue of mb$786, thus covering 77% of its operation and maintenance costs of mb$1,024. tariff level and adjustments. tariff levels vary substantially within venezuela by a factor of almost 1:10 between regional companies, reflecting differences in the cost of service provision. the highest tariffs are found in caracas and the lowest in aguas de yaracuy and the llanos. tariffs were frozen in february 2003 at the national level, leading to a 60% tariff decline in real value because of inflation until 2010. metering, billing and collection. in 2008 the share of metered water consumption in total water consumption was 36%, up from only 20% in 1998. however, only about half the meters were read in 2008 with a meter reading rate of only 17.5%. billing and collection performance is inadequate as total sector collection in 2003 amounted for merely 73% of the total billing. in 1998 this coefficient stood at only 62%. in individual companies the ratio varied greatly between 26% in yaracuy and 80% in mérida. investment historical investment levels there are no recent data on the level of investments in the sector. in the five years between 1997 and 2001 venezuela invested us$637 million in water and sanitation, or about us$127 million annually on average. investment in the sector has historically been volatile. for example, annual investments fluctuated in the 1986–1998 period between less than us$100 million (in 1989) and us$400 million (in 1992). to a large extent investment levels mirror fluctuation in oil prices. investment levels declined from 1986 to 1989 when oil prices were very low. investments skyrocketed in 1992 after oil prices had increased. then they plummeted again when oil prices decreased during the remainder of the 1990s. the volatility in sector financing has made it difficult to initiate a sustainable medium-term investment program needed to rehabilitate infrastructure and extend access to services. planned investment levels in 2002 the government adopted an ambitious six-year investment plan for the sector. under that plan by the end of 2007 access to potable water and sanitation should both reach 99%, non-revenue water should be reduced to 45%, collection efficiency should increase to 95% and the share of treated wastewater should reach 30%. the plan estimates that a total of us$4.77 billion will be required between 2003 and 2015 for the sector, which implies an average annual investment of approximately us$500 million, or about four times historic investment levels. financing sources of financing before the decentralization of the 1990s investments were almost exclusively financed by central government transfers through a number of different programs, including funds borrowed from international financial institutions and passed on as grants to the service providers. in 2000–2001 state governments and municipalities financed almost half of total investments of us$120m and us$190m respectively. the capital market makes no contribution to sector financing. procedures for investment financing the 2001 sector law calls for the creation of a financial assistance fund (fondo de asistencia financiera – faf) to be administered by a new entity called ondesaps which would coordinate and target investments in the sector (see section on the new sector law above). until 2007 neither faf nor ondesaps have been created. neither investment subsidies nor recurrent subsidies, whether paid by the national government or state governments, are linked to performance improvements. external support the inter-american development bank and the andean development corporation are the main institutions that provide external support for water supply and sanitation in venezuela. it was reported in 2004 that the lack in the availability of counterpart funds, which the government has to provide as part of their obligations to execute projects financed by external agencies, had paralyzed various large externally financed projects. interamerican development bank in 2010 the idb provided a $50 million loan to promote the efficient use of drinking water by replacing pipes and installing meters for 80,000 households in at least five of the subsidiaries of hidroven, including in the ocumarito neighborhood in caracas. previously the idb had attempted to support the reform of the water and sanitation sector through a decentralization loan of us$100 million that was approved in 1998 and had to be cancelled subsequently. the loan had aimed at introducing private sector participation, following the model of management contracts in the state of monagas and lara. andean development corporation the andean development corporation (corporación andina de fomento caf) supported the water and sanitation sector through various loans, including five loans approved until 2003 for a total of us$292m, of which three for hidrocapital, the subsidiary of hidroven serving caracas. in 2004 caf approved a us$15m loan to improve water and sanitation services in the peninsula of la guajira in zulia state. in 2005 the caf reassigned us$25m from a non-disbursing water and sanitation sector modernization and rehabilitation loan to environmental projects. at the beginning of 2008, the caf announced that it has approved a water and sanitation loan for the venezuelan states of amazonas, anzoátegui, aragua, bolívar, cojedes, delta amacuro, sucre and trujillo. the program is estimated to have a total cost of us$72.3m, of which caf will finance us$50m, the remainder being financed by local counterpart funds. the program will be executed by hidroven. canadian development agency the canadian development agency cida finances a sanitation project for caracas.