BUSIA: WASREB ranks BUWASCO 59 out of 88 Water Service Providers

Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB) on Tuesday held a public consultation meeting at Hotel Breeze in Busia Town for renewal of licence for Busia Water and Sewerage Company (BUWASCO) Limited.

Leading the Water Service Regulator was Manager Corporate Communication, Terry Micheni. This was in line with the requirements of the law for consumer protection in the licensing of Water Service Providers (WSPs).

Addressing the press after the one-day meeting, Ms Micheni said the purpose of licensing BUWASCO is to ensure consumer protection in quality of water and sewerage service, and health and safety of consumers.

Others are economic interests of the public through affordable and sustainable tariffs paid by consumers for the service and progressive realization of sustainable services to persons who are currently not provided with basic water supply and basic sewerage services.

The manager thanked BUWASCO for making big strides as demonstrated in the IMPACT Performance Report by the water service regulatory board for Financial Year 2019/2020, which saw the WSP ranked number 59 out of 88 WSPs under WASREB, a marked improvement from the previous ranking of 77 in the FY 2018/2019.

The ranking was based on the following indicators:- water coverage, sanitation coverage, drinking water quality, hours of supply, non-revenue water, dormant connections, metering ratio, staff productivity, personnel expenditure as a percentage of Operations and Maintenance, revenue collection efficiency, operation and comparison of unit cost of production, unit cost of water billed and average tariff and water services in low income areas.

Micheni said challenges faced by BUWASCO was attributed to high electricity costs occasioned by the culture of pumping water instead of embracing the gravity system which is a solution to such challenges.

Micheni said BUWASCO need to strike a balance in utilization of of Operations and Maintenance cost coverage which she said is critical to the performance of a utility, adding that a utility is estimated to have reached full cost coverage when it reaches above 150% Operation and Maintenance cost coverage. At this level, a utility can meet its operation costs, service debt and renew its assets.

BUWASCO Managing Director, Erick Ojiambo thanked the stakeholders for unanimously endorsing the renewal of the Company’s operating license, pledging to improve on its current ranking by adddressing on various challenges based on the indicators.

” Non-revenue water which comprises both commercial and physical losses, is the major area we need to address to boost revenue collection. This will include illegal connections, burst pipes and metering among others,” he said.

Chief Officer Water and Irrigation Lower Region, Dr George Tom Ekisa said water coverage which was 48% in 2013 currently stands at 56%, adding that the department is putting infrastructure in place to improve water coverage especially in Bunyala and Teso North Sub Counties.

Photo: Terry Micheni at Hotel Breeze on Tuesday.

-Participants at Hotel Breeze on Tuesday.