Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 22, 2016 (SKNIS): The St. Kitts Electricity Company Limited (SKELEC) has resumed disconnection of power supply of delinquent customers. Persons who are in arrears in their electricity bills or those who fail to honor their deferred payment arrangements to clear these arrears are subject for disconnection. This is according to SKELEC officials who were guests on the government radio programme “Working For You” on Wednesday (August 22).
“We do not want to disconnect anyone, that’s not our goal,” Sanshe Thompson, Customer Service Manager, said on the programme.
“On the bills you will have your delinquent date, that is, your due date in which you should pay your bills. In addition to that, we are trying to make calls to all our delinquent customers …and let you know you are in arrears and how we can assist you going forward. On top of that, we are also sending out delinquent letters. We give you 21 days to come into the office, either clear your entire balance or take advantage of our flexible deferred payment arrangement plans,” she explained. She added that after 21 days, delinquent customers are given an additional seven day grace period, at which time they can be disconnected. “We are very flexible, we want to work with the public. We do not want to go down the path of disconnection,” she added.
Meanwhile, Pearl Williams, SKELEC’s Finance Manager, said that those failing to pay their arrears and who are disconnected will have to pay the full arrears plus reconnection fee before. “We don’t have to send a letter to anybody to disconnect…we want to give customers the opportunity to (pay)” she said. “Once we disconnect you, we are looking for the (payment of) full arrears,” she added.
SKELEC’s Public Relations Officer, Gawain Fraites, said customers should pay their SKELEC bills first as it is very important compared to their other bills. The SKELEC officials all agree that the company inherited a culture of delinquency by customers but stressed that the operations can only be sustained when customers pay their bills are paid on time.