By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Guma Valley Water Company is planning to increase water rate for businesses in the capital, Freetown, Politico has learnt.
According to a document released by the Electricity and Water Regulation Commission (EWRC), the proposal by the company will see charges on water rate go up by close to 80% for small businesses.
The proposal which is yet to be approved by EWRC comes in the face of the perennial challenge of water supply in the capital city.
Guma, alongside the Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO), are the two entities established by law to provide water for Sierra Leoneans.
While Guma is charged with providing water for Freetown, SALWACO is responsible for the rest of the country outside the capital city.
But access to water for the city’s population has increasingly become a nightmarish affair – erratic and unreliable.
Besides the inability to generate enough water to meet the city’s swelling population, the company is struggling under a decaying distribution infrastructure.
Guma officials declined to comment on the plan to increase tariff.
A senior official told Politico that the company decided to refrain from public discussion of the issue until it is approved.
But the company’s spokesman, Ali Kabba, explained the trouble they go through trying to meet the ever growing demand for water. Kabba said 50% of the water they supply is either wasted or they don’t get paid for it.
“We produce 75 - 77 million gallons daily. We don’t get paid for 30 - 35 million gallons of that. The water is either wasted by bad and long connections or people don’t pay at all,” Kabba, who is the Head of Media and Public Relations at Guma, said.
Currently, Guma charges small businesses with the staff strength of at least six people Le5 per liter of water. This means for every 1000 liter consumers use, they pay Le5000.
Under the new tariff system, consumers will have to pay Le9000 for the same volume of water used.
For medium sized businesses with the staff strength about 50 people, they will now have to pay Le10 for every liter, from Le5.5 cent. This means for every 1000 liter of water these businesses use, they will now pay Le10, 000, up from Le5, 500.
The Act that established the EWRC gives it the mandate to approve tariff rates set by public water and electricity suppliers. The Commission’s Communications Manager, Ngozi Obi-Sesay, said that as much as they were considering the increase, they also have a responsibility to the consumers.
“At the end of the day whatever price that we come to the utility company should be able to make little profits that can be reinvested into the system but at the same time it should be affordable for Sierra Leoneans,” she told Politico.
According to Sesay, Guma’s justification for an increase in tariff includes a need for expansion of its network.
“They want to be able to do more with regards their operations and maintenance. At the moment, most of what they are doing is firefighting; trying to solve problems here and there. They want to have a routine maintenance regime,” she explained.
Under the new tariff system, Guma will also add more categories of consumers in the application. Small businesses like hotels will now pay more for water even when their supply is limited.
Freetown Inn, located in the center of Freetown, is a two-star hotel. Its manager, Babah Faroh, said they have at least 15 guests per week and they hardly get enough water supply. His concern is therefore sufficiency and reliability of supply.
“The tap opens on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 7am to around 2pm. They should increase the time we access water,” Faroh said.
Because of the population explosion in Freetown, utility suppliers like Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority and Guma have failed to satisfy the growing demand for their services.
There is no guarantee that this planned tariff increase will increase access to water immediately. As Kabba, the spokesman for Guma put it, in order for them to satisfy the demand for water they will have to triple their current supply.
“We will need to supply at least 210 million gallons of water daily, that is almost three times more than what we are currently supplying,” Kabba said.
EWRC also reaffirmed the point Kabba was making.
Sesay said: “The unfortunate thing about the application we have at the moment, it is not even cost reflective. Even if we approve the tariff, it is still not at the point where they should function as efficiently as possible.”
Guma Valley was previously under the National Privatization Commission; however government has recently moved it to the Ministry of Water Resources. The company runs on the profit it makes. Officials in the past have said it is running on cost recovery basis.
The proposed tariff is not expected to immediately affect consumers who us it for domestic purposes. However, details of it indicate a plan to phase out the flat rate payment for residential homes and replacing it with a meter system.
Currently, the flat rate per month for water is Le50, 000.
Farroh said he will not mind an increase if water supply based on a meter system is introduced.
“I don’t have problem if they increase the rate. But I want [the] water supply system to be like electricity. If I buy ten thousand leones worth of unit, I want to get water till my money runs out,” he said.
“As long as the supply is reliable, I don’t have problem,” he stressed.
Guma’s proposed increase still needs to go through public approval. EWRC say they are holding a hearing on 31 July at the Stadium Hostel for the public to make their contribution to it. This process will be key to the approval of the proposal, according to the Commission.
“We cannot look at the tariff application until we hear from the public. It is not just what the economic regulator is going to present to the board. The voice of the public will also inform the board of commissioners on the decision they should take,” Sesay said.
© 2019 Politico Online
