B.W.S. seeks higher rates for water

There was bad news for consumers today as the Public Utilities Commission reports that the folks at Belize Water Services are asking for yet another rate increase. The request, which seeks a seven percent price hike, effective April first, comes on top of the seventeen percent increase granted last year that the water company is challenging in court as insufficient. The P.U.C.’s Harry Bennett explains.

Harry Bennett, Director for Water, P.U.C.
?Bylaws, which regulate or which sets out the procedures for rates for B.W.S. (Belize Water Services) has two sections. Section three deals with a full tariff review, which is what we went through last year, which is the subject of the release. We went through that whole process we?ve just explained and we ended up with a final decision in which we granted the company an increase of seventeen percent.?

?The bylaws section four also allows for a review in case of exceptional circumstances. An exceptional circumstance as defined in that bylaw list several different thing: hurricanes, storms, riots and other things that are generally classified as acts of nature or acts of God. Amongst those is an item called unforeseen circumstances. It?s under that category that B.W.S. has made this submission.?

Stewart Krohn
?What is their unforeseen circumstance??

Harry Bennett
?They have mentioned two. One, they claimed that the company planted a double run which provides Belize City, Ladyville and other areas of the Urban Belize City area has a problem where the water that they produce has very high–by their calling–high aluminium concentration. And to remedy this they have to add new chemicals to take out that aluminium out of the water. This particular chemical will cost them something like between six hundred and ninety-seven thousand to over one point two to one point three million per year.?

?The second part of the request deals with B.W.S. claim that in reclassifying customers who were previously classified in their database as so a customer who were in fact only water customer. These customers, about four thousand, in all Belize City and Belmopan ended up with a reduction in rates. And they are saying that reduction in rates for those four thousand customers amongst something like fifty to sixty thousand dollars a month for them. So they are saying over a period of a year that?s another six hundred to seven thousand that in review fall short that they will be affected by.?

Stewart Krohn
?Quite apart from the arguments on whether the B.W.S. request has merit or not. What will be the procedure under which the P.U.C. will decide how to honour or not honour the request??

Harry Bennett
?Under the bylaws, we are required to take that application, review it and make an initial decision in about thirty days. There upon, interested parties represented ten percent or more of the water consumed can make a submission to the P.U.C. as well. And then it goes through a very similar process to the last one where if our initial decision is objected to by interested parties represent ten percent or more of the customers or B.W.S., then it triggers another review by independent experts and then we go through to making a final decision based on the independent expert?s report.?

On Friday the P.U.C. filed an action in the Supreme Court asking Justice Awich to decide whether the review of the latest B.W.S. request should proceed, in view of the suit by the company which has been going on for over a year. That case is slated for continued hearings next Thursday and Friday.