Dear Editor,
On Wednesday 20th April 2011, I received bills from three utility companies. The bill from Guyana Water Inc. had a bill date printed as 04/01/11 and payment due date as 05-02-11. The bill from GT&T had a bill date printed as 2011- 03-31 and a due date printed as 2011-05-07. The bill from Guyana Power & Light had a bill date printed as 03-22-11 and due date as 04-12-11. On Thursday 21st April around 13:30 hrs while at work I received a called from home informing me that a crew from G.P.L was at my residence to disconnect my power supply. I spoke to the person who I presumed to be the leader of the crew and explained to him that I had only received the bill the previous day. The point to note here is that several other residents in the said area were victims of this unjust situation. Being a long weekend (holiday) it meant that no reconnection could be done until after Tuesday 26th April. This is quite unfair, embarrassing and smacks of unprofessionalism on the part of G.P.L or the Post Office. To avoid such a situation I think the post office should keep records of acceptance and delivery of these bills especially those originating from G.P.L and should inform G.P.L when such bills are delivered to the consumers. The consumer should also be made to sign a document acknowledging receipt of the bill and the date on which such bill/bills were received. When G.P.L is sending its crew on a disconnection campaign it should have confirmation from the Post Office as to the date on which the relevant bill was delivered. This procedure might seem very confusing but with the kind of technology available it will be possible. Having this in place it can save the above mentioned scenario from occurring.
G.P.L had said that a consumer does not have to await a bill to pay as they can use an old bill to pay on the account. This system might look good but it has a disadvantage. The amount a consumer pays is not constant. Let us assume that the consumer used the old bill system to pay and unknowingly the amount on the bill for that month exceeds by $3,000 the amount the consumer paid. Assuming again that the original bill reaches the consumer after the bill due date has been passed the consumer will still be targeted for disconnection because the balance on the original bill will exceed the amount that can be owed without being disconnected. I am therefore asking the powers that be at G.P.L to look into this situation and where possible correct same. I can say that since being a customer of GT&T I have never been subjected to having my telephone services disconnected because of bills arriving after the due date has been passed. I can also say the same of GWI. I am hoping to say the same of G.P.L.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address
applied)
