Customers to be prosecuted for illegal connections - GWI

Customers to be prosecuted for illegal connections – GWI

Jul 12, 2012 News

– Customers who report illegality to be rewarded
In excess of 30,000 Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) customers have been disconnected for non-payment, and they have never visited an office to have their service reconnected.
This has resulted in the water company launching a new customer service campaign that targets delinquent customers who have reconnected their service or tampered with GWI’s service equipment such as water meters.
Under the theme “Stamp Out Tampering”, the campaign also aims to reward GWI customers who report tampering and illegal connections by crediting their GWI water service accounts with a special cash reward.
The utility company also noted that it lost $400M annually through theft in the system. This was disclosed at a press conference held at GWI’s Vlissengen Road Shelter Belt headquarters yesterday.
According to GWI’s Director of Customer Service and Commercial Relations, Earle Aaron, the company is more concerned about the risks that illegal connections pose to the health of customers rather than the significant revenue lost.
“These customers have illegally reconnected their service and we are losing valuable revenue because of this.”
According to GWI’s Scientific Services Manager, Donna Canterbury, customers who illegally reconnect their water service are endangering the health of their entire community. “Customers who reconnect their service do not possess the requisite knowledge or approved equipment to properly seal the connection,” stated Canterbury. “This can lead to impurities entering the service line and eventually contaminating the entire network.”
The Scientific Services Manager explained that such an occurrence can have disastrous results. “Illegal connections allow water borne diseases and harmful bacteria to enter our network,” stated Canterbury. “Entire communities can become seriously ill since dangerous bacteria can be easily spread once they have entered the network via an improperly sealed service connection.
“Customers with illegal connections must be cognizant that they are not only putting their health at risk, but all the persons who are using water from the network for domestic purposes. We are appealing to these persons to visit the nearest GWI office and avoid what could potentially be a life threatening situation since water borne diseases such as Leptospirosis, Typhoid and Dysentery can cause death in a relatively short span of time.”
GWI’s Director of Customer Service is urging all customers with illegal connections to visit their GWI commercial office before the situation becomes detrimental to their health.
“We are also appealing to those persons who are aware that their neighbors or someone in their community has an illegal connection.” stated Aaron,
He continued: “to show our appreciation to those reporting tampering and illegal connections, during the campaign we will credit their GWI accounts with a cash reward. Persons reporting illegal connections to our Customer Services Call Centre will be treated with the strictest confidentiality; in fact customers are only required to indicate their account number when making tampering reports, no other information is necessary.”
He further stated that once the tampering or illegal connection report is verified, the cash reward will be credited to the customer’s account.

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