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Consumers Need Only Pay Current
Utility Bill, Aresep Says
As of yesterday, the public
institutions like the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE), Acueductos y
Alcantarillados (AyA),
Radiografica Costarricense SA (RACSA)
and the Compañía Nacional de
Fuerza y Luz (CNFL), cannot
charge customers for outstanding
bills, that is customers are
only required to pay the current
bill for services.
The decision handed down
yesterday by the Autoridad
Reguladora de Servicios Públicos
(Aresep) and published in the
official government newspaper,
La Gaceta, says that public
companies cannot charge for
outstanding bills and must make
a judicial claim for any
outstanding amount owed to them
by their late or non paying
customers.
The decision, supported by vote
7970-2001, surprised managers of
ICE and Aya for example, who wer
not clear what it will mean to
their billing rules.
No one at ICE, the CNFL or Aya
would comment on what the
decision means and what actions
they will take to counteract
until they have had a chance to
study the Aresep decision.
Carolina Mora, of the Aresep
press office, said that
customers are now required to
pay only the current bill for
the current month of service and
the public utilities cannot
include past due bills on their
billing, basically eliminating
late fees or charges.
Mora added that
the decision is to force the
public utilities to be more
efficient in their billing and
collection practices. Mora said
that the current billing
practice makes the public
utilities lazy and stimulates
late payment.
In the case of Aya, some 50% of
the customers are late in making
their payments each month.
What the decision means is that
the telephone company or water
company, for example, must
use the judicial or
administrative process to
recover unpaid bills if the
customers does not pay, which
can include the suspension of
service and/or filing a claim in
court.
Customers are advised that
notwithstanding yesterday's
decision, it is best to stay
current with utility bills or
face having their service cut.
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