TSTT, TTEC, WASA to pay utility fees

THE Banker’s Association of Trinidad and Tobago (BATT) has reached an agreement with the utility companies regarding the policy of customers being charged transaction fees for the payment of their utility bills at local banks. As part of the agreement, which came into effect on June 1, customers will no longer be required to pay transaction fees to the banks when paying their utility bills. In a letter to Consumer Affairs Minister Camille Robinson-Regis, issued yesterday to the media, President of BATT Richard Young stated that the association has been meeting with the Water and Sewerage Authority, the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission and the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago over the last four months in an effort to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution to the situation.

Young said that he was happy to say that an agreement was reached, where each utility company will pay a bank fee of $3 plus VAT per transaction. “What this means is that individual customers will not be required to pay a service charge when they use the bank’s teller service to pay utility bills,” said Young. Based on complaints by consumers about the unfairness of the transaction fees, Robinson-Regis raised the concern with the banks. In January 2003, the minister in collaboration with the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago initiated a research programme to look at the issues of the transaction payments, and in February the fees were removed by one bank. The agreement between the BATT and the utility companies caters to all transactions conducted over the counter, through the ABM or the Telebanking service.