P1.3 billion- owed WUC closes taps
Makes final calls to pay water bill or face disconnection Management set 1st February, 2022 as D- day
The latest inclusion on the agenda of almost all district councils and, or Kgotla meetings across the country is the presence of a Water Utilities Corporation ( WUC) official.
Their presence is for a very simple purpose - to convince the populace to settle their huge outstanding debts or face dry taps forthwith.
Although February is regarded as the month of love, not all WUC clients will experience the love let alone celebrate Valentine in peace as they might have to do so without water, as a result of their failure to settle bills which are three months old and above.
The customer debt for the monopoly potable water supplier in the country has been increasing with each day since March 2019 to date. For example, WUC thought it was at its worst in September 2021 when the debt went up by at least P400 million to P801 million. The latest debt stands at P1.364 billion.
The woes did not stop there. Instead, all consumer categories increased, with the highest increase in domestic customer’s debt, which rose by 50.6 percent from P540 to P813 by the last quarter of the year starting September 2021.
Ironically, all sorts of clients including government owe huge sums of money.
The balance sheet indicates that the increase in debt which started before COVID- 19, grew by over 49 percent.
WUC Chief Executive Officer ( CEO), Gaselemogwe Senai revealed that the Corporation’s financial performance and its ability to support its operations have been drastically affected by the COVID- 19 pandemic.
Senai revealed that the total current Customer debt is P1.364 billion. “Out of this Government owes P310 million, Councils P47 million, Business P162 million.
Domestic customer debt is P845 million, constituting 62 percent of the debt book”.
He warned that having tried every trick in the book to convince clients to settle the debt, WUC now cautions that it does not need a court order to disconnect.
“Disconnections are part of the Corporation’s Credit Policy but this was put at abeyance on account of the Public State of Emergency ( SoE)”.
Following the end of the SoE, “the management resolved to proceed to disconnections of debtors effective from 1 Feb 2022” after an extensive dunning process, and clearing of non- genuine debt and accelerated bills queries.
In order to keep their ship afloat, WUC came up with several initiatives to improve customer service, and notable among the initiatives was the introduction of customer self- service platforms where customers can submit their meter readings, check their water bills and pay their bills, as well as addressing water supply shortages.
Although the reception of these facilities was positive, the response to setting bills was just too slow. In order to address the water supply challenges, Senai said the Corporation adopted a three- pronged strategy.
One was to embark on massive public education awareness campaigns through news releases to the local media describing present conditions and water supply outlook.
Under Demand Management Intervention, the Corporation also reviewed its Non- Revenue Water Management strategy on the implementation phase in Francistown and major villages such Serowe, Molepolole, Letlhakane, Tonota, Moshupa, Thamaga, Mahalapye and Palapye.
Senai said the public awareness campaign strategy is paying dividends in so far as “public engagements and awareness on water supply services are concerned, as well as the stakeholder engagements”.
But, regrettably, “the same cannot be said in respect to customer responsiveness to accounts management, hence the colloidal debt”.
Currently, WUC is faced with serious challenges of service delivery and operating under tremendous pressure as some of the major villages in the southern part of the country are running either on low pressure or dry taps. WUC got more affected following the outbreak of COVID- 19, which brought a new challenge that necessitated the Corporation to adopt new ways of operation at the same time ensuring uninterrupted water supply to the community following the moratorium to reconnect all disconnected customers and not to disconnect non- paying customers during that period.
Senai said the Corporation followed that by refreshing its Strategy to bring its implementation back on track. Management selected critical areas to focus efforts on. The four key areas of focus include: Meter to Cash, meant to identify and put in place action plans to ensure that WUC measures consumption accurately and collects revenue timely across all business centres.
Secondly, Debt Management meant to address the Corporation increasing debt through review and optimisation of debt management related processes.
Post SoE the Corporation will implement its policies that regulate the management of traders’ debt. However, customers will be granted a one month buffer to make good their accounts, and or negotiate debt payment plans, which have been extended from three to six months.
Thirdly, New Organisational Structure Optimisation to review policies and procedures to ensure that the Corporation realises the intended benefits of reviewing its organisational structure.
The expected benefits of iTemogo included decentralisation from Head Office through the creation of Business Centres to bring services closer to the customer, and to improve operational efficiency.
Lastly, Strategy Governance to address issues related to constant reporting on Strategy progress, continuous communication of the Strategy to key stakeholders and to make the Corporation a strategy focused organisation.
He said despite his Corporation trying hard to be accommodative as much as possible, clients are not forthcoming and this compels them to pull the stopper so that they can be able to continue offering quality service to clients who are compliant.