25 Aug 2022

Debt resulting from failure to pay up water bills by consumers remains one of the major challenges facing Water Utilities Corporation (WUC).

It emerged during the opening of the Palapye Administrative Authority sub-council session recently that WUC Palapye was owed P34.6 million as of August 8.

Breaking down the debt, the sub-council chairperson, Mr Jordan Makhura said businesses owed P7.4 million, council P1.1 million, while for bills for domestic consumption was P21.1 million and government institutions’ debt stood at P4.9million. “Debt is one of the major concerns for this business centre. Despite the reinstatement of disconnections, most customers have not been forth coming for payment of their water bills. 

The few payments made remain insufficient to enable debt reduction to the desired levels,” he said.

The sub-council chairperson therefore urged the general public to proactively manage their water accounts, which included facilitating access for meters to be read, accessing water bills and ensuring that the bills were paid timeously.

Nonetheless, Mr Makhura noted that Palapye management centre had opened two more service centres with pay points to try and take revenue collection services closer to customers in the respective satellite villages such as Maokatumo and Lerala.

He also noted that WUC had also partnered with BotswanaPost to facilitate delivery of bills to customers as well as to provide an alternative paying avenue especially in areas where the corporation service was limited.

Additional payment avenues Mr Makhura said included First National Bank Botswana, ABSA Botswana and Standard Chartered Bank Botswana, as well as through the WUC website and USSD code #186, which is accessible through all the mobile networks. BOPA