A large percentage of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) 400,000 residential customers owe the cash-strapped utility $475 million in arrears. The total figure owed by WASA’s residential, commercial and industrial customers was a staggering $583 million.
Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte has promised that WASA will be moving on these errant customers to pay up or have their homes seized and sold by the water company.
Last November, WASA started a similar exercise with its commercial customers in a bid to recover arrears currently owed by delinquent customers, some of who have not paid their bills since 2010. Over several weeks, WASA has published the addresses of several businesses in arrears, urging them to come forward to pay.
These business owners have heeded the call and paid the outstanding arrears, while others opted to work out a payment plan. In the coming weeks, Le Hunte said WASA would undertake a similar exercise for its residential customers.
As of 2017, WASA had on its database 402,748 residential and 8,910 commercial customers.
Giving a breakdown of what WASA is owed by its residential, industrial and commercial customers in T&T, Le Hunte said the figure was astronomical. In Trinidad, the minister said its residential customers owed the highest arrears with $460 million, while they have to collect an outstanding $15 million from Tobago.
Commercial customers for both countries amounted to $73 million, while industrial customers were in arrears of $34 million.
The total figure WASA has to recover from its customers, Le Hunte said was $583.7 million, which would be used to pay its debt to contractors and suppliers.
Asked how many of WASA’s residential customers have not been paying their bills, Le Hunte said he could not give a definite figure, but said it was a lot.
“We are putting the residential customers on notice that they need to pay their bills,” Le Hunte said. Le Hunte said WASA went after its commercial customers first, “but I have given instruction to come down the line and start with the residential as soon as possible. So early 2018 we are going to deal with that.”
He said failure to pay-up would result in homes being seized and sold. “We are going to do that. We have the rights under the law. But this is a last resort.”
He said WASA would give its customers an opportunity to pay.
“If there are circumstances with the disabled, ailing and elderly people we are opened to payment arrangements. But what we are not going to be doing is accepting every excuse from customers who owe us. That excuse might be that I have to play mas because that is important to me. There is a general feeling that all you need is a good excuse and it exempts you from doing what is right. This is unacceptable.”
With water rates in T&T being one of the cheapest in the world, Le Hunte said it was sad that WASA had to reach this point for its delinquent customers to pay their bills. Le Hunte said because some of the debts are statute barred “we don’t know if we would be in a position legally to collect all of that money.”