utilities

Idaan falls behind in sending out bills

A staff shortage has meant that some customers have not received a water bill since November 2007.

LA PRENSA

Juan Antonio Ducruet976301

Because of staff shortages, the Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Nacionales (Idaan) has fallen behind in distributing bills to customers in rural areas.

Idaan Director Juan Antonio Ducruet said some customers have not received water bills since November. He said the agency's billing distribution department currently has 30 employees, while a staff of at least 60 people is needed to keep up with the agency's 500,000 customers.

Some of the customers do not have mail service, so the bills have to be distributed by hand. This labor-intensive process has created a backlog in undistributed bills.

"We have had problems because there have been many employees retiring, and they have not been replaced," Ducruet said.

A few years ago, there was a proposal made to outsource Idaan's billing distribution department to a private company. This prompted authorities to start looking at ways to cut staff to make the transition easier.

However, the proposal never became a reality because the government couldn't identify a qualified company that wanted to do the work. In the interior, Idaan is looking to form a partnership with telephone and electricity providers to work out a joint billing distribution agreement. The three entities all face similar problems in billing customers who do not receive mail.

"We are looking into this possibility because it will be more efficient," Decruet said. According to the latest figures, Idaan closed 2007 with a deficit of $105 million. The agency's deficit increased by almost $6 million from 2006.

While distributing bills is one problem area, another issue is that almost half of the agency's customers do not have water meters, and thus are not being billed for their usage, but rather a flat rate.

Idaan officials say this is one of the reasons that Panama has one of the highest rates of water consumption on a per-capita basis in Central America. Panamanians consume 350 liters per person per day while the average in the region is 180 liters daily.

Idaan officials are hoping to begin programs to promote water conservation. They are also hoping to make changes to improve the agency’s billing distribution, though no details about that have been released.