The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

WATER and Sewerage Corporation executive chairman Adrian Gibson said the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a "devastating blow" to the company's revenue, adding officials anticipate that between 60 percent to 70 percent of its customers will not be able to pay their bills in the next six months.

Giving his budget contribution in the House of Assembly recently, the Long Island MP said: "Mr Speaker, at the end of 2019, WSC had an operating revenue of $51.5 million.

"In 2018, it was $52 million and in 2017 it was $50.6m. COVID-19 has had a devastating blow to the Water and Sewerage Corporation's cash flow which, quite honestly, was already in a downward spiral due to the impact of Hurricane Dorian and the loss of our second largest revenue base.

"Year-to-date, cash collections has decreased from $29.8m in June 2019 to $22.5m in 2020. This represents a 25 percent decrease."

The executive chairman also noted that the company's revenue loss stood at a staggering $3.8m per month as a result of their policy position to not disconnect water from customers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The water provider ceased disconnections in March as an initiative to help fight the spread of the infectious disease.

However, speaking on the issue in Parliament, Mr Gibson noted the move had resulted in millions of dollars of loss.

He said: "Our loss revenue due to the policy position not to disconnect stands at approximately $3.8m in revenue per month. It is anticipated that 60 percent to 70 percent of WSC customers (due to the increase in the unemployment rate) will not pay their water bill, this will amount to $2.28m to $2.66m per month or $11.4m over the next six months.

"WSC has had a major setback with the loss of Abaco operations, our second highest revenue base. WSC anticipates losing $2.6m in 2020 from Abaco operations ($2.4m of water revenues and $0.2m in sewer revenue).

"We collected a little over $5,000 in Abaco in April, 2020. We collected $211,564.93 in May, 2019. By contrast, we collected $19,999.42 in May, 2020. WSC suffered a 91 percent loss. Year-to-date, WSC collected $20.5m in 2020 versus $28.5m in 2019. That represented a loss of 28 percent."

Mr Gibson said if the corporation's current circumstances continue to persist in the months ahead, WSC will be challenged to meet its monthly $2m payroll.

"Notably, it is highly likely that the longer the current circumstances persist, WSC's monthly payroll of $2m will be impacted and WSC will be challenged--without government intervention--to meet staff salary payments," he said.

"Though WSC receives a subsidy, due to a large shortfall, WSC revenue has been used to meet costs such as vendor payments."

During his address, Mr Gibson also spoke about the corporation's water restoration efforts in Abaco. Noting that the company has granted $11.383 million in contracts thus far, Mr Gibson said an additional $3.6 million in contracts are expected to be issued in the coming weeks to assist with further restoration efforts on the storm impacted island.

This, he said, will include "refurbishment of damaged buildings and replacement of destroyed buildings, installation of standby generators on elevated plinths, major improvements of the Treasure Cay and Spring City sewerage system, reinforcement of the Green Turtle Cay underwater line and major pipework improvements for the Marsh Harbour pumping station."