Punta Gorda
Belize
Wed. Sept. 27, 2023

Dear Editor,

I am writing to complain about the underhanded operations of Belize Water Services. From 29th May 2023 until 9th August 2023, we received no water bill, either printed or electronically. Because of this, we remained unaware that we had a leak for an extended period. Our bill ran up from its usual amount of less than $15 for the month to over $500!

We received no apology for the lack of billing, and when we enquired via BWS’ live chat service, we were told that the lack of billing was due to BWS updating their systems. No bill reduction was offered, and we were told that unless we had proof of having called a plumber, none would be given.

Water leaks are easy to fix and we had already fixed it – BWS wants customers to fork out even more money for plumbers? Instead, perhaps they should bill people on time, and provide a more timely way of letting customers monitor usage.

Instead, BWS is only concerned about water loss when it is “non-revenue loss,” i.e. on their side; they do nothing to help customers reduce water loss on the customer’s side. Their website home page has “Water conservation tips” – including one laughable one that says to “Monitor your water bill for unusually high use as this will help you discover leaks.” We would, if you billed us! Now, because they did not bill us, we are hundreds of dollars out of pocket.

If BWS is serious about water conservation (which they should be), they should provide the option for customers to fit some kind of real-time monitoring or alarm system so that as soon as our usage is above normal, we are notified. But of course, then they would make less money! Instead, the best they offer is payment by instalments. We would happily pay for some kind of system that notified us of leaks – it would have saved us hundreds if not thousands of dollars over recent years.

In the meantime, we are refusing to pay our full bill and have notified BWS’ PG branch of such.

A concerned P.G. customer,
BWS acct. # 077050000014