Opposition says NWC was not consulted before PM’s giveback announcement

The board of the National Water Commission (NWC) was blindsided by Prime Minister Andrew Holness' announcement that it is to write off the debts of pensioners with outstanding balances of more than two years, Opposition Spokesperson on Water Ian Hayles has alleged. 

Hayles, who was speaking at press conference this morning, also accused the Government of playing “political football” with the agency. 

“This was not well thought out, it was a knee-jerk reaction and it shows a level of desperation on the path of the Government,” he asserted. 

Addressing the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) 81st annual conference on Sunday, party leader Holness also stated that persons who have been disconnected for longer than six months, but have payment arrangements will get a 50 per cent or more discount on the debt based on needs assessment. He said they will get up to one year to pay. 

This amnesty will last three months and will commence on January 2, 2025.

"This is aimed at giving relief to those persons who are suffering with the weight of bills from major household leaks in the past," Holness said.

But according to Hayles, there was no consultation with the management of NWC before such proposals were made. 

“I know for sure that the commission up to yesterday was still calling the ministry of social security and labour to find out how many citizens are on PATH [ Programme of Advancement through Health and Education], and how many citizens are on, in terms of the pensioners, who are collecting pension,” he said. 

According to him, 350,000 of the NWC's 547,321 customers are delinquent in some way, with 150,000 customers who do not pay their bills at all. 

He said the NWC is owed a total of $52 billion, but its collects only $3.3 billion monthly. 

Only 197,000 customers of the NWC are paying the water bills for everyone else in the country, Hayles said, and they will get no meaningful benefit from the measure announced by Holness. 

“If you really want to help the customers of the NWC or the citizens of Jamaica who are faced with hardships, the average customer uses around 3,000 gallons per month of water - first thing you would want to do is to cap it or create a rate for the 3,000 gallons that the citizens use monthly. Another thing again is to pay dollar for dollar for sewage and water,” he said. 

He added that the sewage rate could be reduced anywhere from 25 to 50 per cent. 

“Water is too important to the people of this country to be taken or used as a political football in an election season,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Mark Golding said Holness' plan to reduce the general consumption tax on electricity from 15 per cent to seven per cent and remove the non-tax threshold will not be of much benefit to most Jamaica Public Service Company customers. 

“In fact, the greater savings from the tax rate reduction will accrue to wealthier customers who consume more electricity,” he said. 

“What is needed is strong and capable leadership to drive down electricity cost in Jamaica for transformation of the energy sector, the PNP [People's National Party] has a plan to achieve it and a shadow minister with a track record of achieving it,” he said. 

- Sashana Small

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