Stephen Bain wakes up to $1000 plus water bill
It’s usually the lowest utility bill in the average household, but for one Freedom Street resident, his last water bill totaled more than twice as much as he would normally pay in a year. Stephen Bain has a family of four and lives in a modest house; his average water consumption has been in the range of twenty dollars and has never gone beyond forty dollars monthly. That was until recently when it shot up to a whopping thousand dollars. Bain figured it was an obvious mistake, but Belize Water Services said he had to pay the entire bill. When he couldn’t, he was disconnected and must now pay at least half to be reconnected. He is outraged at B.W.S. and says he feels the company is taking advantage of him. He came to our studios today to share his story with the public and ask for whatever help he can get.
Stephen Bain, Freedom Street Resident
“I wake up one morning and WASA send me wah bill. I di expect dat dah wah normal water bill to me as weh I usually pay every month. But now, dehn send me wah bill fi wah thousand dollars stating dat I owe wah thousand dollars, dat I consume dis amount ah wata fi di month and my bill dah usually fifteen—no more dan forty dollars fi di month. Now I di try ask dehn how could I burn wah thousand dollars inna one month. Dehn di tell me I had wah possible leakage. But when dehn do fi dehn inspection dehn noh find no leakage and when I did my inspection I noh find no leakage neither. So now I went ova to WASA dis morning to try to clarify dis bill and dehn told me dat I have to pay dis. Dehn told me dat if I pay half and owe half dat dehn could put in back my wata.
I don’t know where am I going to find dat, but I think this is a total victimization by the water service of Belize. So, I just want appeal to di public and mek dehn know fi look out fi WASA cause then dis noh right. Maybe unu wah wake up one ah dese days and unnu wah feel just like how I feel. I live pan di boulevard and I have to go dah Jane Usher Boulevard fi go get wata fi mek me and my kids dehn bathe and thing before I come dah work. I di tek wah licking and I just want beg whosoever could help me out wid dis situation fi mek dehn try give me wah lee help wid WASA because WASA di tek advantage ah we Belizean poor people.
I mek sure my gate keep padlock up. You go deh right now dah my yaad, you wah find wah chain round my gate and wah big padlock pan it. And my pipe deh right dah my bedhead and I noh sleep hard because I always listen outside fi hear if anybody come di try steal inna my yaad. And if somebody mi even di thief wata from me, ih neva mi wah burn one thousand dollars inna one month.”
