COA tells Angeles water district to cut supply as uncollected bills hit P75M

MANILA, Philippines – Local government offices are among the non-paying customers that may soon lose their water supply if the Angeles City Water District (ACWD) heeds the recommendation of the Commission on Audit (COA).

State auditors told the ACWD to disconnect the water supply of delinquent customers as its uncollected bills already reached P75.78 million as of December 2019. 

Among the customers that failed to pay are the city government with at least P2.14 million, the city engineer’s office with P865,980, the city’s hall of justice with P594,333, and at least 23 public primary and secondary schools.

According to COA, the failure to collect water dues led to the lack of funding for the upgrade of ACWD’s services and equipment.  

It reminded the water district that it has the option to terminate services, especially with such huge unpaid bills.

“The non-enforcement of the terms and conditions provided in the water service contract, specifically the disconnection policy, resulted in the accumulation of receivables and increase in the number of delinquent concessionaires, thus potential losses may be incurred by the [water] district,” state auditors pointed out.

The Finance and Customer Accounts Services of ACWD said it will strengthen efforts to negotiate the settlement of unpaid dues with the local government of Angeles City. – Rappler.com