The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Water & Sewerage Corporation yesterday warned it will launch a mass disconnection exercise next week in a bid to collect “nearly half” the $45m owed by deadbeat customers.

Adrian Gibson, pictured, the Corporation’s chairman, told Tribune Business that water meter readers “are in the field as we speak” to determine exactly how much delinquent payers owe ahead of the threatened supply shut-offs across New Providence and the Family Islands.

He added that the Corporation had also enhanced its accounts receivables and legal services departments to go after defaulters, with demand letters, disconnection warnings and other notifications being issued through all communications mediums.

Mr Gibson said “no one has an excuse not to know” of the impending disconnections, adding that he planned to aggressively pursue non-payers who were ultimately inflating the annual $20-$30m taxpayer subsidy that covers the Corporation’s operating losses and capital works costs.

Promising a “major accounts receivables reduction”, the Long Island MP told Tribune Business: “My intention is to claw back most of it. It was around $45m. I’m hopeful we can collect more than half of it.

“At present I can tell you that meter readers are in the field. Right now it’s a mass meter reading exercise to make sure everyone’s meter is read. Next week we begin mass disconnections.

“Those disconnections will take in the western district of New Providence all the way around through Carmichael to Yamacraw and Eastern Road, and take in East Street, South Beach and downtown Nassau. All the major areas in New Providence, disconnection teams will be out for those persons.”

Nor will the Family Islands be spared, with Mr Gibson disclosing that they will be held to the same standard as their fellow delinquents on New Providence.

“There will be a major push for collections on the Family Islands,” he added. “The Family Islands are not exempt from the collection process, and meters are being read there as well. That, too, is being done as we speak; a mass meter reading. The mandate is the same as in Nassau; to collect the Corporation’s money.”

The build-up of multi-million dollar accounts receivables, as a result of non-payment of water bills by delinquent customers, is just one of many long-standing challenges that have plagued the Water & Sewerage Corporation and undermined its financial performance.

Its consistent losses, and $150m-plus accumulated deficit, have placed an ever-growing burden on Bahamian taxpayers, effectively representing a transfer of wealth where they are - at least in part - paying for those who are not covering their bills.

Mr Gibson yesterday revealed that the Corporation was “bringing in and seeking to recruit persons from banks” and other sectors with skills that can help collections on past due accounts, as it builds up its accounts receivables team.

“We’re taking this very seriously and employing a number of strategies to collect the money,” he told Tribune Business. “We’re forming a legal services department. Rather than outsourcing, we will handle delinquent accounts internally, and are sending out letters threatening disconnection and demand letters, using the telephone to advise customers of pending disconnections.”

Mr Gibson added that the Corporation had also been employing all forms of media - radio, newspapers and social media - for the past several weeks to warn defaulters to pay what they owe.

“If it’s been running this long no one has an excuse not to know,” he told Tribune Business. “The intention is to advance an aggressive credit and collection plan. That falls in line with the organisational performance and transformation we are employing at the Corporation.”

Mr Gibson, though, conceded that a presently-unknown portion of the $45m outstanding will have to be written-off as uncollectable. He said such situations would involve cases where meters had been taken out; persons had left The Bahamas; the land was vacant or relevant building had been destroyed.

The Water & Sewerage Corporation pointed to several incidents where meters had been taken out but bills still issued as examples where monies owed had to be written-off.