GWCL plans legal action to retrieve GH¢23m from defaulting customers
The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has said it would take legal action to retrieve GH¢23 million from defaulting customers in the Western Region.
The company indicated that it was compiling a list of defaulting customers in the region for prosecution over debts and non-payment of water bills.
The acting Western Regional Manager of GWCL, Nana Yaw Barima Barnie, who announced this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said as of October this year, records showed that customers in the region owed the company GH¢23 million.
He said: “We are compiling the list of all customers who have been disconnected, but have failed to pay their bills and send them to court because we need the money to run our operations”.
Nana Barnie, therefore, encouraged defaulting customers to settle their arrears to avoid being dragged to court, saying, “We are very much prepared to use every legal means to retrieve all the arrears that people owe us.”
He reminded the public that GWCL was no longer a subvented organisation, and depended on bills to run its daily activities.
“We are pleading with our customers to pay their water bills to help us run our day-to-day activities, else a time will come when GWCL will find it difficult to buy chemicals to treat water, fuel and other operational items due to non-payment of water bills,” Nana Barnie emphasised.
He also asked customers to take advantage of GWCL’s electronic payment platform and pay their bills at their own comfort.
“In order to make it easier for customers to pay their bills, we have introduced the electronic mode of payment, and they do not need to walk to any pay point, a bank, or GWCL offices,” the acting Regional Manager explained