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Rates increase application… Consumer reps demand GWI financials be examined first
Consumer advocate Ramon Gaskin on the floor yesterday.
It was supposed to be a routine application for an across-the-board increase for tariffs by the state-owned Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) to the regulator, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
But it was anything but boring yesterday at Cara Lodge, on Quamina Street.
GWI’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Richard Van West Charles, leading a team of officials, was ready at 10am, and made a more than an hour-long case for the increases.
At the end, consumer representatives Ramon Gaskin, Pat Dial and others insisted, in some tense moments with raised voices, that they first wanted to examine the financials of GWI before making pronouncements. They had concerns.
The advocates are also calling on GWI to reveal figures which would show comparisons with what was charged before to what is being proposed now. This is to determine the percentage of the increase.
The financials for 2016 are currently with auditors, but GWI is looking to release the figures, an unusual situation, before the next public hearings scheduled for February 21. Under regulations, those figures have to be audited before being released. The release is not likely before March month-end. GWI has to approach its board now.
In essence, GWI is arguing that it has 14 domestic bands and no clear-cut parameters for applying with customers – there are 180,000 of them complaining of discrimination.
There are even instances where some domestic customers are required to pay a higher rate than commercial customers. It is a situation that cannot continue.
On top, there are no fixed charges, similar to what other utilities in the world, have, GWI said.
GWI is proposing that a fixed charge of $500 be applied to all customers except pensioners. The fixed charges for pensioners will be waived, GWI said.
GWI’s team with CEO, Dr. Richard Van West Charles making a point.
According to the CEO, the water company has some serious challenges to bringing potable water to customers.
With 180,800 customers, GWI is charged with overseeing 137 well stations and 24 treatment plants, with three more to be constructed.
There are more than 900 staffers with 60-plus contractors and 220,000 Km of transmission and distribution mains.
However, despite investments, GWI is facing major problems with its energy efficiency, with stability and reliability being major problems
With GWI moving to introduce 24-hour operations, there will greater wear and tear on equipment and infrastructure and although greater customer satisfaction was realized, this does not guarantee greater revenue intake, officials argued yesterday.
In addition, there are a significant number of aging wells, which are costly to maintain.
Maintenance personnel amount was significantly increased to deal with the new challenges, and specialized training has to be sought to deal with these.
In fact, in Georgetown, some 65% of the pipes are more than 40 years old. Less than half of the 180,800 customers are metered, with over 80 percent of revenues coming from domestic.
For domestic customers with meters, GWI is proposing the monthly fix charges of $500 and with standard rates of $112 per m3. For pensioners, GWI wants to waive those fixed charges, but the pensioners have to pay $74 per m3.
For residential unmetered, there is a $500 fixed monthly with a $1,500 monthly charge.
GWI wants unmetered pensioners to pay no monthly fixed charges, but for $740 m3 for fixed charges.
Significantly, GWI is proposing to get tough with tampering with a $50,000 fine for domestic customers and $100,000 for commercial ones.
GWI said that it will need a minimum of three months from time of approval, as it has to make software changes, including automatic billing for VAT and creation of new tariffs for billing.
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