GWCL to pursues legal action to recover GH¢1.2bn debts
By Christabel Oboshie ANNAN, Accra
The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has announced its intention to take legal action against customers to recover outstanding debts.
This follows a statement released by the company indicating that customers owe over GH¢1.2 billion over a 10-year period.
Stanley Martey, the Public Relations Officer at GWCL, told The New Finder that customer debts are negatively affecting the company’s operations.
He stated that starting on May 15, GWCL will publish the names of individuals and companies in the newspaper, along with the amounts owed and the duration of the debts.
Martey noted that, as part of the legal actions against customers, GWCL has the right to disconnect services, sue customers, and use external debt collectors’ strategies to retrieve their dues.
When asked about claims that some people are being billed even though they do not have access to water, he clarified that they are not being billed for water they haven’t consumed.
He explained, “Our system is post-paid, so you consume the water before we bill you. This means that anyone who owes us now has consumed the water for which we have billed them.”
Martey added that if within a 30-day billing cycle one has not consumed any water, their bill will reflect zero consumption.
Nonetheless, a bill will be issued because GWCL has a social contract with its customers to provide services within a month and send a bill at the end of the month.
He also clarified that if previous bills have not been paid, they will appear as arrears on the current bill. Martey emphasized that claims of being charged for unconsumed water may be due to misunderstandings about previous consumption readings.
“If someone says they haven’t consumed water but have been billed, they should review previous meter readings. If water hasn’t gone through the meter, it won’t register,” Martey explained.
