Prime Minister David Thompson (centre) and Minister of Water Resources, Drainage and the Environment, Dr. Denis Lowe (left), listen as General Manager (ag) of the BWA, Dr. John Mwansa makes a point. BWA Chairman Dr. Atlee Brathwaite (second from right) and other officials listen attentively.
Thousands not paying water bills
6/18/2009
By Janelle Riley-Thornhill
There are as many as 10 000 services due for disconnection by the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) each month, because Barbadians are not paying their bills and keeping their accounts up-to-date.
According to Prime Minister David Thompson, this is one of the numerous challenges being faced by the BWA, despite the fact that for most households across the island, the water bill is the smallest of the utility bills they pay. He disclosed that these arrears are in the region of $26 million, with residential customers owing about 60 per cent of that money. Chairman of the board, Dr. Atlee Brathwaite, speaking earlier, noted that the organisation was in debt to the tune of $150 million.
Their comments came after a tour of the BWA offices at Manor Lodge yesterday morning, where employees were given an opportunity to voice their opinions and get clarification on issues from the Prime Minister.
According to Prime Minister Thompson, a survey conducted among the public revealed that residential customers view the BWA as the number two utility despite the fact that they all agree that water is the most valuable of the utility services. Thompson further stated that delinquent customers claim that their reason for not paying is that the other utilities are more aggressive in terminating for non-payment and that there is no reward for early payment at the BWA, as with other utilities.
“The financial challenge facing the Authority is the most serious one and has its origins in a widening gap between expenses which keep rising and revenues which remain relatively fixed,” he pointed out.
The Prime Minister added that the very rigid expense structure at the Authority places limits on options to correct this cash flow issue. He said wages and salaries, electricity, purchases of desalinated water and debt service represent about 80 per cent of expenses, with wages and salaries accounting for the majority of that.
He noted that the BWA is the largest consumer of electricity in the country, using about 3.6 million units of electricity each month to pump water to consumers, which represents about 4 per cent of the entire output of the Barbados Light and Power.
These and other issues, he maintained has necessitated a rate increase for the supply of water to consumers. He explained that with the exception of the 2005-06 fiscal year, when it made a small profit, the BWA has made losses in each of the past thirteen years it has supplied service to this country and he maintained that technically it is bankrupt. He lamented that successive losses have forced the BWA to borrow to sustain its operations and its current finances are inadequate to meet debt service charges.
“In the past the BWA has sought to halt the slide through measures aimed at improving revenues with some success, but efforts to contain costs were not successful… The only viable option is to grant a rate increase at this time to permit the conduct of orderly operations while giving some breathing space for modernising the organisation and commencing a number of projects critical to the development of the water and wastewater sector,” he said.
This modernisation, he said, is essential as the intention is to eventually bring the BWA under the ambit of the Fair Trading Commission to be regulated.
