NWC to resume late payment fees

Customers of the National Water Commission (NWC) who make payments to the utility company after the due date for bills has expired will again be charged a late fee.

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) says the NWC can resume applying late payment fees to applicable bills effective July1, 2017.

On March 31, this year the OUR issued a directive to the NWC to stop charging their customers late payment fees on bills for which there are amounts outstanding, with immediate effect and until further notice.

Following a review of information as well as discussions with NWC, the OUR wrote to them on June 16, this year, expressing satisfaction that appropriate measures were implemented to resolve the issues which had caused the erroneous application of the late payment fees to some customers' bills.

The OUR has asked the NWC to provide its customers with notice prior to its resumption of the late payment fees.

The OUR's investigation into the issue came against the background of complaints received from NWC's customers that the late payment fees were being applied to their accounts although their bills were settled in full, on or before the due dates.

The OUR will continue to monitor the application of the late payment fees and urges customers to report any billing anomalies.