According to Dr. Eng. Silver Mugisha, the corporation’s managing director, NWSC would disconnect non-paying consumers since some customer segments’ failure to pay their water fees is interfering with the National’s capacity to properly provide services and fulfil its commitments.
Dr. Mugisha stated during a press conference held on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at the company’s headquarters in Nakasero that the continuity of service is being threatened by a number of customer segments, including the Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prisons, the Ministry of Defense, and other governmental organizations.
Dr. Mugisha stated, “Management has made the difficult decision to immediately implement a strict disconnection strategy for all outstanding arrears of more than one month.”
After repeated failures to heed the PSST’s directive to consistently consider water bills as the first call on quarterly releases, he declared that all government institutions with domestic arrears over and above the discount invoicing threshold approved by the Ministry of Finance would be disconnected.
Billions of dollars in unpaid water bills have not been paid by public institutions.
Dr. Mugisha was particularly worried about the Uganda Police Service, the Uganda Prisons Service, and the Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs since they had accrued UGX19 billion in debt on top of the Shs43 billion in arrears that the Ministry of Finance has agreed to budget for and pay off.
Between July 2022 and March 2023, the 19B arrears accumulated.
Eng. Mugisha told domestic customers, who owe approximately UGX 18 billion, that every single coin matters.
“We pay for every cubic meter of water given to clients, along with power, chemicals, repair supplies, and other manufacturing inputs. To keep supplying us, the producers’ suppliers need to be paid. We thus ask clients to pay their water bills starting at 5000 Ugandan shillings and above,” the man stated.
Additionally, according to Eng Mugisha, the company is using internally generated resources to carry out projects in Soroti, Kanungu, Kalungu, Lyantonde, Moroto, Kyankwanzi, Kihihi, and other places. Along with other upcoming projects, these will be impacted by delayed bill payments.
The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development and NWSC had earlier agreed to budget for UGX.43 billion in arrears that would be paid off over the course of the following three years.
Dr. Mugisha expressed gratitude to the Finance Ministry last year for helping to settle water consumption fees in different MDAs on a quarterly basis.
“However, the money that is being released is not enough to pay all the debts. The expenses have accumulated as a result, as he informed Ramadhan Ggoobi, the permanent secretary of the finance ministry.
“This is a constraint to our cash inflows as a corporation and affects both operations and public service delivery,” he claimed.
The head of NWSC responded to recommendations that prepaid water meters be used to prevent non-payment of water bills by saying that his administration is open to any innovation that offers cost-benefit benefits to its business practices.
Prepaid meter technology is a new innovation for which we now lack solid examples of successful implementation, according to our preliminary assessment. According to him, “Our own case study for low-income and ministry accounts has not produced more efficiency advantages.
According to a preliminary financial analysis, the total investment cost for the entire NWSC meter replacement operation is between UGX 800 billion and UGX 1,000 billion. The utility company isn’t willing to make this investment; instead, it invests in providing more Ugandans with clean, safe water.
According to Eng. Mugisha, the current focus of NWSC is on providing services to individuals who are not yet receiving them rather than improving the convenience of those who are, at a significant opportunity cost.
Service delivery is being hampered, according to Eng. Johnson Amayo, the Deputy Managing Director in charge of technical services at NWSC.
We are currently working on a project to saturate the water supply by evacuating more water from the Katosi Water Treatment Plant. However, a lack of funding is hampering these efforts, he said.
When finished, the new mains would increase water delivery to numerous areas of the Kampala Metropolitan Service Area, including Kanyanya, Gayaza Road, Bombo Road, and Hoima Road.
In response to harmful propaganda, NWSC
The company had totally recovered from a hacking issue that had harmed it last year, Eng Mugisha told the media.
It was made clear by Mugisha that “all data lost during the ransomware attack was reconstructed to allow for a full audit by the Auditor General.”
Accusations that the NWSC billing system was broken were denied by him.
He claimed that the billing system was reliable and attributed the claims to dishonest people who used water illegally.
The well-being of many brands is at risk due to harmful social media behavior, computer abuse, and the sabotage of public products and services, which he urged responsible authorities to address.
Malicious social media conduct impairs our ability to concentrate on providing services since we spend a lot of time addressing unfounded propaganda. We implore the relevant authorities to assist us in eradicating this sin,” he stated.
