The company set-up jointly by Enemalta Corporation and the Water Services Corporation to handle the whole process from meter reading to revenue collection has turned out to be a veritable failure. Automated Revenue Management Services Limited (ARMS) is also responsible for the customer care of both corporations and of developing the concept of a “one stop shop” for customers.

The company may have made great progress in implementing new and modern systems such as the billing process which forms part of a plan to install smart meters throughout the country. The SAP billing system was purportedly installed over a 10-month period preceding the start of the company’s operations in January this year. Yet, it transpired that multiple teething problems delayed the process and the issues which cropped up required much more time than anticipated to be addressed.

This was the first indication that the systems and processes selected did not integrate seamlessly. As a consequence the company could not process customer requests and the first inconveniences ensued as the backlog of requests extended beyond reasonable delay.

Another of ARMS Ltd plans was to issue regular utility bills - every two months. However, some customers have resorted to writing letters to newspapers and almost begging for their utility bills to be issued seeing that over a year had passed since their last bill was received. Their fear stemmed from the relatively short time frame to settle their dues for the over-extended period.

The latest twist in this saga was the Opposition Leader’s revelation last week that a legal letter sent to allegedly defaulting customers was unsigned. Eventually it transpired that the company itself does not have its own legal department and had used that of the WSC. For some reason which remains unexplained, the WSC’s legal department did not sign the legal letters issued, prompting questions as to their legality and validity.

Traditionally, private companies represent the epitome of efficiency while operating in a profit-oriented environment. Nevertheless, it is with utter bewilderment to note how this private company tasked with specifically improving the service offered and made responsible for meter reading and billing could have gone so wrong. The service has deteriorated to an extent that the Prime Minister himself had to apologise to the country on behalf of the company. In terms of corporate shame that must rank on a top level tier.

What irks people most, however, is the fact that the company has so far failed to noticeably improve its service despite the Prime Minister’s commitment to rectify the situation. Moreover, no member of the management has assumed any responsibility.

To make matters worse, the policy and strategy manager acting in his official capacity last week wrote in another newspaper and practically shot down any hope that the situation could improve any time soon. He stated “that this has been a very challenging year for billing and accounting of water and electricity bills”.

Even worse the manager adds that the company made significant investment in “establishing a truly modern system”, yet fails to explain why so many customers had to join endless queues at ARMS Ltd offices to query their utility bill.

The exaggerated waiting times at the company’s offices in Luqa are attributed to the fact that customers increased from a daily average of 1,500 to 2,000. The strategy and policy manager is obviously pointing out that matters became worse during this period when an average of 500 more customers resorted on a daily basis to query their bill.

Only now the company is revisiting its internal administrative procedures to improve the service offered while seriously thinking of retracting the new billing format which provides additional data.

Rather than trying to justify its failures, ARMS should have set concrete time-frames to improve its service after which the public would expect a more efficient service. After all, the public was arbitrarily forced to incur the cost of this company’s inefficiencies and the least the country expects is a company which delivers its obligations with utter responsibility.