The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) is owed more than $100 million by customers, but officials say about 60 per cent of that is likely to go down the drain.
That was among the revelations during a comprehensive update from BWA officials at their Pine, St Michael headquarters yesterday morning.
Acting director of finance, Kent D’Hayle, said they were still aiming to collect all of the money owed, but had to recognise this might not be possible.
“When you’re looking at a portfolio, you have to do a probability of the collectability of that portfolio. We have started the preliminary work on that. We believe that about 60 per cent of that portfolio may not be collectible,” he told the media.
D’Hayle said it would be more realistic for the BWA to aim for about $40 million that can be collected.
“We work with our customers because obviously water is a social good and we are not going to take a hard approach to it. We have customers who come to us and they have financial burdens, who are in financial difficulty. We work with those customers and we extend the payment plan that will allow those customers to repay the debt.”
He added that while they generally operated with a three-year time frame, there was no fixed period within which collections occurred because a payment plan might be in place, but a customer could fall short.
“We know there are variables that are very much changing and we work with our customers. I [would] like to take this opportunity as well to encourage our customers who know that they’re experiencing financial hardship to come and to speak with us.”
Acting chief executive officer, Christopher Mapp, said it was around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic that they noticed a change in people’s ability to pay their water bills.
“As you would know, during that time we could not disconnect customers and that was a social responsibility. People needed water to take care of themselves,” he explained.
“So, I think people took the water for granted and a lot of customers did not pay their water bill. So, we saw some increases; that continued throughout COVID. I think we started disconnection . . . maybe about 2023, but, obviously, we can’t just go and start disconnecting customers, because water is life.”
Mapp said they tried encouraging customers to enter payment plans. He pointed out that they reduced the collection time and it remained within a two- to threeyear time frame. Anything longer than that had to be approved by a committee of the board of directors.
D’Hayle could not say
the largest single amount of money owed, but Mapp noted it was not the commercial sector with the biggest debt on the books.
“The residential customers comprise 60 per cent of the overall receivables, also 60 per cent of the billing, so really there is a straight correlation between the two. Domestics are the main offenders. I know hotels generally tend to get a bad name but really and truly, the hotels are responsive when we do those disconnections or when we threaten disconnection. They’ll come in and pay the bill or make a payment plan with us.”
He added: “Disconnection is not the deterrent that it used to be and many customers are remaining disconnected and getting water from whatever source that they can get water from.”
(SAT)
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