WASA to pay for poor service

THE Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) will soon have to pay for delivering poor, sub-standard service to customers. The utility will have to compensate householders and businesses with a rebate of up to 15 percent of their monthly water bill if, for example, their supply is cut when it is supposed to be running, unless WASA can prove it gave advanced warning of the cut in supply. The crackdown on the utility to ensure it maintains proper standards is an initiative of the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC). A release from the RIC said, under the RIC Act 1998, it is empowered to set and enforce standards. However before it seeks to enforce the measures, it has adopted a policy to seek consultation from the public on the issue. The RIC said not only will WASA be forced to comply and deliver quality service, but also TTEC and other utilities. It said there will be two classes of quality of service standards: “guaranteed” standards which the service provider must meet or face penalties and, “overall” standards which will establish the level of quality of service which the utilities are expected to deliver. The RIC said details of the 18 standards which pertain to WASA will be published for public comment in all three daily newspapers this week. It stated that half of the 18 are “guaranteed” standards, of which violation will trigger compensation in the form of rebates to affected customers.

The other nine will be deemed “overall” standards, which are not subject to compensation but which will require WASA to maintain a certain level of performance in various areas of its operations. Among the “guaranteed” standards are that the WASA supply must be restored within 72 hours after cuts or lock-offs; truck-borne water must be provided within four hours if a pipe-borne interruption lasts more than 72 hours; broken supply pipes must be repaired within 24 hours if the leak is heavy or, can cause damage and seven days if it is a light or medium leak. The RIC said it was sensitive to the various reasons why WASA received many queries and service complaints, but as a regulator, its position was that “no improvements will take place if standards are not set, implemented and aggressively monitored.” Copies of the standards will be available from the RIC’s offices, Furness Building, Corner Wrightson Road and Independence Square, Port-of-Spain, on the RIC website www.ric.org.tt or by calling 625-5348 and 627-0821. Deadline for receiving comments on the standards is August 25. Comments can be forwarded by e-mail to ricooffice@ric.org.tt or by fax at 624-2027, or by mail to the RIC.