Member of Parliament for Mayaro Rushton Paray has described the decision by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to refer debtors to a debt collection agency as “reckless and cruel”.
In a public consultation earlier this week, the authority said it has engaged the services of Credit Chex Limited to help collect debt from customers over two years in arrears.
stated Credit Chex Limited will contact customers in arrears by telephone, in writing or through site visits to notify customers that their account(s) has been referred for debt collection. It said that to avoid referring accounts to Credit Chex Limited, customers can settle their outstanding debts on their account or enter into a loan payment plan agreement to pay off the outstanding amount on the agreement.
However, in a statement to the media, Paray said the move would be lead to consumers being without supply for months, being forced to “pay for a non-existent service” instead of being provided with the precious commodity.
“This draconian measure is almost certain to punish paying customers by arbitrarily cutting off their supply. It is appalling that the government is allowing WASA to engage in this capricious debt collection exercise even after a ministerial committee recently found that the agency’s books are in complete disarray.”
Noting that the Committee, which was chaired by Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales, found a lack of accountability and poor organizational culture, Paray said hiring a debt collection agency at this time is “harsh and bad.” .
“The committee reported that WASA is operating blindly, with a lack of reliable information in such key areas as customer database, liabilities and obligations. In that broken and chaotic system, WASA is taking this haphazard measure instead of moving swiftly to fix its books, improve the distribution system and repair the damaged water mains and routes.”
The lawmaker further suggested that Gonzales should stop the exercise “until the ongoing chaos is resolved and WASA has a reliable list of customers with old debts.”
“The debt collection railroad would also affect the credit rating of customers who fall victim to WASA’s dysfunction and mismanagement. While WASA has a serious cash flow problem, debt collection must be guided by a watertight list of debt receivables and management competence and professionalism.
