Barbados Water Authority Faces Default as Customers Struggle with Bill Payments

Barbadians continue to default in paying their water bills.

Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Culture, revealed this on Wednesday when she introduced a resolution in the Senate for the borrowing of $12.4 million from the CARICOM Development Fund to finance water improvement projects by the Barbados Water Authority (BWA).

She disclosed that for the first quarter of this year, there was an increase in receivables at the state-owned agency.

“We have a challenge within the Barbados Water Authority that customers are just not paying their bills. Over this first quarter of 2024 we have actually seen an increase in receivables – customers not paying their bills. I know some customers may say why . . . pay for what they may see as poor service, brown water and everything else, but we have to ask ourselves, if you don’t pay your bill, then the Water Authority does not have income to be able to build out the infrastructure that it needs in order to provide better service.”

Munro-Knight said while the BWA was able to address 96 per cent of its overheads with monies collected, it still needed funds for reinvestment, upgrades and to address its ageing infrastructure.

“Therefore, it is important that customers are able to pay their bills, please,” she pleaded. She noted that without that money, it meant the entity would not be in a position to go on its own and be able to borrow money. “So the Government then still has to continue to support the BWA.”

The senator explained that the loan would complement the US$40 million grant the BWA received from the Green Climate Fund.

She said the loan was at a fixed interest rate of three per cent to be repaid over 12 years with a two-year grace period. (MB)