Brussels residents have been waiting for a water invoice for months due to software problems at Vivaqua | Brussels
BrusselsDue to problems with new software, tens of thousands of Vivaqua customers have not yet received an invoice. For Brussels residents who do not yet receive an advance invoice, probably a peppery final settlement. The problem is also bad news for the Vivaqua. The intermunicipal costs have to borrow money to cover it. A solution is not yet in sight.
Lien Verlinden, NSB
Latest update:
5:43 pm
Source:
Belga/Own reporting
The Brussels intermunicipal company Vivaqua supplies water to all nineteen municipalities in Brussels and four municipalities in Walloon Brabant. To replace the management of customer data, a switch was made to new software at the end of last year. But that turned out differently than expected. “With the transfer of the data from the old to the new system, it quickly became clear that problems were emerging,” explained representative Saar Vanderplaetsen. As a result, data from tens of thousands of customers was not transferred correctly.
In the summer period, Vivaqua thought it could solve the problem. But also many errors in the system. The consequences are not minor. For several months now, Vivaqua has announced that it will not send advance invoices or final settlements to a large part of its customer base. Roughly speaking, this would concern 90,000 connections. “About a quarter of the customers have not yet received their invoice,” says Vanderplaetsen. Because some Brussels residents have not yet received their advance invoice, the final bill is likely to be high for them. “Any customer can request a 12-month installment plan,” as the request said. “That all-encompassing, and is now also in effect.”
Loans
The situation also causes a lot of problems for the intermunicipal company itself. “The administrative pressure is enormous. Many people are concerned about their budget and ask a lot of questions. We have ten extra workers who have to respond to the number of registered telephone calls, emails and people in the counters that they can receive. And even then, waiting times can still increase.”
In addition, Vivaqua does not receive any subsidies. “While our costs have also increased. For example, the material for our yards is at a 20 percent loss. And the wages of our staff were also indexed. All of that leaves us with an extra $20 million in expenses. We submitted a large number that our customers found it difficult to pay their bills due to rising energy prices. That also puts extra pressure on our resources.” To be able to pay the costs, the intermunicipal company saw no other solution than to make short-term investments with credit institutions. Vivaqua does not disclose exact amounts, but it would be several millions.
A solution is not yet in sight. “We are taking a step-by-step look at how we can tackle the problem with our IT experts. That must be verified, we want to avoid new mistakes. Hopefully things will move quickly”, concludes Vanderplaetsen. To find out how it all came to this, Vivaqua is preparing an internal audit. The Brussels government was informed of the problems at the water company. Together with minister Alain Maron (Ecolo), he already let it be known that he was concerned, and would have asked the management of the intermunicipal company about the consequences for the consequences.
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