WILLEMSTAD - Aqualectra is heading for a negative cash position of 41 to 44 million guilders at the end of 2020. Staff have been informed of the serious situation at the utility company.
In mid-April, there was still 25 million in cash, but this is drying up quickly. The reason is the corona crisis and its effects. These are substantial for Aqualectra, partly due to a sharp fall in demand.
Shut down
Possibly an even bigger problem is that customers decide based on "their own criteria" whether or not to pay the bill, sometimes partly or they pay much later than the due date. Aqualectra understands that many households and companies have been affected by the crisis, but also points out that this is partly because people know that the water tap and power button are not being turned off at the moment. That is at the request of the government.
An internal memo to staff states that the population must continue to pay their bills, but strangely enough, the water and electricity supplier has completely stopped collecting payment from its customers.
Waste
Aqualectra only processes the "voluntary" payments of the waste tax. If customers don't pay, nothing happens. The fact that Aqualectra does not "shutdown" should not prevent the company from collecting debts.
There is now a threat to the government because the energy supplier wants to postpone the payment of taxes and premiums in the remaining months of 2020.
Tax authorities
And there is something strange going on between Aqualectra and the Tax and Customs Administration: an annual transfer of the outstanding waste tax balance must take place from Aqualectra to the Tax Collector.
That has not happened in four years. Aqualectra also does not actively collect. As a result, fewer and fewer people are paying.
According to insiders, there are now literally tens of millions ready to be sent to the Tax Collector, who wants to settle this with, for example, the income tax of Aqualectra, which - as it turns out - does not want to pay it this year.
Even if you are not allowed to set off these two types of levies and taxes, it will not do much. History has already proven that this will not lead to a substantial recovery of the funds.
The Tax and Customs Administration has been collecting tax arrears since 2014, and if you read the country's quarterly reports and the analyzes by the Financial Supervision Council, that will not work.