Customers of the National Water Commission, NWC, could soon see a significant increase in their water bills.
The NWC is asking the Office of Utilities Regulation, OUR, for a 51 percent tariff increase to ease its cash-flow troubles.
The figure surfaced at Tuesday’s sitting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, PAC.
Chevon Campbell reports.
Water is life, and it could soon cost Jamaicans a lot more.
Acting CEO of the NWC, Kevin Kerr, told the Public Accounts Committee, PAC, of Parliament that the utility company needs a significant hike in its rates.
The NWC’s last rate increase was granted by the OUR in 2019. But it was an interim increase.
Kerr told the PAC that rising costs wiped out any gains the Commission received from that increase.
And he warns that without the increase, the NWC will have to rework its investment plan, which is meant to help the company keep pace with growing demand.
Before any new rates take effect, the OUR must review the NWC’s application, which includes public consultation.
The regulator can approve the request in full, grant a smaller increase or turn it down.
Meanwhile, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, CFO, for the NWC, Fabian Christie, explained to the PAC that the utility’s cash flow has significantly eroded.
This has left the Commission with a $33 billion gap in its payables.
Of that number, over $20 billion is owed directly to the Government of Jamaica in GCT.
Christie told the PAC that as a tax withholding entity, the NWC has deducted GCT from the payments it makes to suppliers.
However, rather than remit it to the Central Government, the utility provider has been using the sums to ease cash flow concerns.
Christie says the NWC is currently in talks with its board to launch a new reform programme in 2027.
But according to CFO, this is dependent on improving the Commission’s liquidity position, hence the need for the 51-percent rate increase the company is asking the OUR for.
Fabian Christie, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the NWC.
