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$48M OWED TO WSC AS IT TURNS OFF TAPS: Disconnections of delinquent accounts resume

Tue, Aug 16th 2022, 09:20 AM
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THE Water & Sewerage Corporation has seen a $2m reduction in customer arrears since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with monies owed to the company now said to be around $48m.

 

In March, WSC officials revealed about $50m in unpaid bills were still owed to the corporation by delinquent customers.
#Officials also said at the time that some 45,625 customers were behind on their payments and that the corporation would resume disconnections on March 28 earlier this year.
#Pressed for an update on the latest figures yesterday, acting Chief Financial Officer Patrice Munroe said customer arrears had slightly decreased due to an increase of consumers paying down on their bills.
# She also noted that the company continues to work with people who are behind on their payments.
# “During the COVID period, we have had a number of customers that were not paying their water bills and since Water and Sewerage was given a mandate, because of the essential need for potable water, not to disconnect (and) that was lifted and so now we can disconnect so we see more customers coming in and making payments on their accounts,” she said.
# “Our current receivables is around $48m. It has been reduced since COVID. Customers are paying and we are reaching out to them to encourage them to pay their bills.”
# During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company suspended disconnections to help people cope with the global crisis that brought economies, including The Bahamas’ to a screeching halt.
# Disconnections have resumed since then, however, it is not clear how many disconnection exercises have been carried out by the company to date.
# Yesterday, WSC chairman Sylvanus Petty spoke to the company’s efforts to reduce its $40m debt owed to its major reverse osmosis suppliers since Hurricane Dorian struck in 2019.
# “It’s been paid down significantly,” he said when asked for an update yesterday. “I think we are in arrears of only about $13m so we have made great strides in paying our bills.”
# He was also asked to address complaints from Abaco residents about the island’s inconsistent water supply, with some locals lamenting interruption of water services as a daily occurrence.
# “We have a new (water) system in place right now. We’re just trying to critique the system. We have a million-gallon storage tank right now that’s in use. We have the commissioning on September 1 if I’m not mistaken,” Mr Petty said.
# “It’s a new project. It’s a solar farm actually that powered the water system and I think that’s the first in the Bahamas so one of the things that we’re having right now is the system, it’s computerised so we’re having challenges with the computers and getting sufficient power so once that’s all sorted out within the next few days or so, we should have that up and running and so the water challenges in Abaco should be no more.”

In March, WSC officials revealed about $50m in unpaid bills were still owed to the corporation by delinquent customers.

Officials also said at the time that some 45,625 customers were behind on their payments and that the corporation would resume disconnections on March 28 earlier this year.

Pressed for an update on the latest figures yesterday, acting Chief Financial Officer Patrice Munroe said customer arrears had slightly decreased due to an increase of consumers paying down on their bills.

She also noted that the company continues to work with people who are behind on their payments.

“During the COVID period, we have had a number of customers that were not paying their water bills and since Water and Sewerage was given a mandate, because of the essential need for potable water, not to disconnect (and) that was lifted and so now we can disconnect so we see more customers coming in and making payments on their accounts,” she said.

“Our current receivables is around $48m. It has been reduced since COVID. Customers are paying and we are reaching out to them to encourage them to pay their bills.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company suspended disconnections to help people cope with the global crisis that brought economies, including The Bahamas’ to a screeching halt.

Disconnections have resumed since then, however, it is not clear how many disconnection exercises have been carried out by the company to date.

Yesterday, WSC chairman Sylvanus Petty spoke to the company’s efforts to reduce its $40m debt owed to its major reverse osmosis suppliers since Hurricane Dorian struck in 2019.

“It’s been paid down significantly,” he said when asked for an update yesterday. “I think we are in arrears of only about $13m so we have made great strides in paying our bills.”

He was also asked to address complaints from Abaco residents about the island’s inconsistent water supply, with some locals lamenting interruption of water services as a daily occurrence.

“We have a new (water) system in place right now. We’re just trying to critique the system. We have a million-gallon storage tank right now that’s in use. We have the commissioning on September 1 if I’m not mistaken,” Mr Petty said.

“It’s a new project. It’s a solar farm actually that powered the water system and I think that’s the first in the Bahamas so one of the things that we’re having right now is the system, it’s computerised so we’re having challenges with the computers and getting sufficient power so once that’s all sorted out within the next few days or so, we should have that up and running and so the water challenges in Abaco should be no more.”

 

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