RIC: Standards for WASA to be published soon

THE Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) has said new quality of service standards for the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) should be published soon.

The RIC made this comment on Wednesday in response to a Newsday editorial of September 6, titled "Who guards the lines at WASA?"

In a statement, the RIC noted the concern raised in the editorial about its role in holding WASA to certain service standards.

It said it welcomed the opportunity to educate the public on its independent role, the role of quality or service standards for service providers and the process by which such standards come into effect.

"Quality of service standards establish the minimum level of service that a utility should provide to the public," it explained.

The RIC said there are two types of these standards. The first are guaranteed standards, which "establish performance levels that the service provider, in this case WASA, must meet in serving individual customers."

The RIC added, "These standards attract compensatory payments if the service provider fails to meet the prescribed performance levels."

The second type are overall standards. The RIC said these "cover areas of service where it is not appropriate or feasible to give individual guarantees, but where the expectation is that the utility will provide pre-determined, minimum levels of service to a group of consumers."

Referring to a sewage-filled sinkhole which appeared at Main Street, Beetham on August 18, and which was mentioned in the editorial, the RIC said this falls under the overall standards which do not carry compensatory payment.

In accordance with the RIC Act, from which it gets its authority, the RIC said it had held several consultations with WASA and member of the public i"n order to develop appropriate quality of service standards for the supply and distribution of water and wastewater services in Trinidad and Tobago."

Development of the standards, the commission continued, required extensive consultations with all its stakeholders, including WASA, "and at times could be a protracted process." Once this process is completed, the RIC said the standards are submitted to the Public Utilities Ministry to make arrangements for them to be published in the Gazette. The commission added the publication of the standards in the Gazette is outside its scope under the RIC Act.

The RIC said the latest of these efforts has been submitted to the ministry, which is moving towards having these standards published in the near future. Once the standards are published in the Gazette, the RIC said the public will be told about the date of their implementation and "the service provider (WASA) held to improving its service levels to the citizens of TT."