14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 29 March 2024 — Luisa López was stunned this Wednesday when, under her door, in the city of Sancti Spíritus, someone left a water bill. On the piece of paper was the amount of 1,200 pesos, a fee that had accumulated since 2020, when the Cuban authorities decreed the suspension of collection for the service, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nobody warned us; this came out of the blue, and it’s a lot of money, practically all my monthly pension,” says this resident of the Kilo 12 neighborhood. Although in other provinces the water bill was restored shortly after the end of the deadliest stage of the pandemic, in Sancti Spíritus many customers of the Aqueduct and Sewerage Company still received the service even though they hadn’t paid.
“It’s not so much that they’re charging me for the water, which I can understand, but that all this accumulated debt arrives now”
“It’s not so much that they’re charging me for the water, which I can understand, but that all this accumulated debt arrives now, and they don’t allow you to pay it off a little at a time,” complains López. In her neighborhood, some people have decided not to pay their bills, which in many cases exceed four digits, despite the fear that their supply will be cut off. To make matters worse, the monthly cost per person of the water consumed during the pandemic went from five to seven pesos.
In the province, water is not charged per cubic meter due to the lack of consumption meters. Instead, each family pays a fixed rate for each person.
“Everything is very poorly organized, because in my block there are people who have received a bill with a very high number, and others, who have not paid anything all this time, have not even received one,” says Eliseo, a resident in the historic center of the city. “They didn’t notify us before.”
A bill for more than 600 pesos arrived at Eliseo’s house, although the 73-year-old retiree says that he consumes very little water because he lives alone. “Here there are many problems with the supply; the service is bad, and the well in the house is so low that the water never reaches me,” he says.
“The Company has not fixed this issue, and people are upset because there are so many things all at once: money that doesn’t stretch far enough, the constant blackouts and now this. They should have forgiven all that debt because (since the pandemic) everything has become more expensive, especially for those of us who live from a retirement pension.”
In Eliseo’s neighborhood, however, there are residents who will pay the large bill. “My mom has a cafeteria, and we can’t draw attention to ourselves. If you have a private business you have to cover your ass, because they’ll take away your license in a blink of the eye,” says a young man who lives in the San Juan neighborhood.
The amounts now being billed to customers of the Sancti Spíritus Aqueduct and Sewerage Company began to accumulate in April 2020, when the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, announced a package of measures in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
At that time, the official stated that the charge for electricity, water and gas services would be eliminated for the time being
At that time, the official stated that the charge for electricity, water and gas services would be eliminated for the time being, except for those that could be done electronically. In the provinces where local entities could not collect digitally, the billing was paralyzed.
After overcoming the worst moment of COVID-19, the provincial company ran into another problem: the lack of workers to go door to door to collect the accumulated charges. When they tried to resume collection in 2021, they barely managed to cover a small percentage of the customers. Now, many have not paid even one cent for the service for two to four years.
“They knocked on my door, an employee with several checkbooks in his hand, and he told me that I owed for two years,” explains another resident of Kilo 12. “I told him that they couldn’t come and charge me that all at once, so I only paid a part, and he told me that he would come back next month.” The woman believes that she and her family are now “paying for the company’s inefficiency, more than for the water we consumed.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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