WASA to pay for water worries

AS SOON AS the quality of service standards for the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) become law, WASA will be required to pay compensation to customers if it does not adhere to those standards. According to Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) chairman, Dennis Pantin, “What we did a few weeks ago is that we launched the quality of service standards for WASA which are now in the Government’s mill. When these are gazetted, they therefore become law and after they become law, WASA will need to pay compensation to customers if they do not meet these guarantee standards, after a 12 month grace period. In fact, those same standards have been in place for TTEC since April of last year, those became law, and what we’re effectively doing is seeking to do the same thing for WASA.”

Pantin was speaking at the first public consultations on TTEC, held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port-of-Spain. He said the RIC decides, determines and sends those quality of service standards to the Ministry of Public Utilities and Environment, which then passes them onto the Attorney General’s office. “This is the agency which actually does the gazetting and which also does final checks to make sure it is consistent with the law and the Constitution. And that’s where it’s at right now,” Pantin said. He told Newsday that some of the quality of service standards issues WASA would now have to be more responsible for were billings, reconnections and availability of water supply.

“There are about ten guaranteed standards and about eight overall standards, or something of that order of magnitude,” he said. Pantin said there was also a World Health Organisation water quality standard which WASA is obligated to attain as a State service provider. “That’s an overall standard,” he said. While dissatisfied customers cannot currently claim rebates from WASA until the quality of service standards become law, Pantin said they can complain to the RIC which would take their complaints seriously and deal with them. “The RIC continues to deal with complaints. It doesn’t stop,” Pantin said.