Basis for Codes
Belize Water Services Ltd. (BWS) was granted a twenty-five-year operating license “the License” under Section 15 of the Water Industry Act “the Act” on March 20, 2001, by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Condition 5 of the License, “Codes of Practice”, requires that the Licensee, BWS, prepare and submit to the PUC for its approval three codes, namely; “the Customer Code”, the “Disconnection Code” and the “Leakage Code”. Condition 2 of the License allows for “quality of services standards” to be set out in the Codes of Practice. Condition 2 also provides for quality of service standards to be prescribed by Regulations, Byelaws, Orders, etc. of the PUC pursuant to any powers contained in the Act or the License. The PUC will be establishing “Quality of Service Standards” by Regulations, Orders, etc.
Information and Monitoring
This document sets out the Customer Code, the Disconnection Code, and the Leakage Code. BWS will provide the PUC with all information necessary to effectively monitor performance and will facilitate the PUC or its agents in performing independent tests to measure such performance.
Review of Codes
These codes shall be reviewed annually to establish appropriate levels of service that are achievable within the cost structure of the Licensee’s Business and can be afforded by customers. The implementation and monitoring of these Codes of Practice will commence on date of approval of the Codes of Practice by the PUC. The annual review is to be completed by June 30th of each year.
