Around 15,000 clients have not received a water and electricity bill this year, according to an internal report which also highlights attempts being made by ARMS Ltd to improve serious deficiencies.
Processing of the bills is moving at a very slow pace due to a shortage of resources, since all efforts are being dedicated to a front office inundated with customer queries and complaints.
Bill processing is also moving at a very slow pace since it is being done mainly by part-time students or by billing agents during their spare time, the report seen by The Sunday Times says. The reasons mainly attributed to the delays are related to “data”.
The part-time students were engaged over the summer to support billing agents.
Set up last January to provide accounting and billing services to Enemalta and Water Services Corporation, ARMS Ltd has arguably become the country’s main target of criticism for its inefficiency.
The company was even criticised by the Prime Minister who recently called on ARMS to apologise to clients.
The report, requested by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, under-scores the way the company has been overwhelmed by clients’ demands, though it gives the impression that the worst is over.
Several complaints are stemming from the bottleneck in the billing section, even if the report claims that marked improvements have been made on the billing operation since the introduction of a new system.
To counteract the protests, the government recently said that home owners who did not receive a water and electricity bill for months would be given extra time to pay without being charged interest.
The billing section should be capable of handling 7,000 daily bills, but the report says it is currently only capable of averaging 5,500 bills a day. A total of 5,335 of the migrated accounts from around 200,000 accounts in the new system have not received any water and electricity bills this year.
The report admits that only 65 per cent of the weekly 2,500 to 3,500 calls to the company are answered.
However, it says that the peak average one-and-a-half hour client waiting time in August was down to an average of 55 minutes in September – even if the number of customers visiting the corporation had remained the same.
The largest number of queries relates to applications requesting change of details on an account – in this case each client has an average waiting time of one hour, 18 minutes.
Thousands of others have queued up to query their water and electricity bills, or to ask why they had not received a one-off assistance cheque from the government. However, there is no breakdown of figures related to these complaints.
Although a reduction in con-sumers visiting the corporation is expected as the system stabilises and consumers get more know-ledgeable about the bill, the reduction is expected to be around 25 to 30 per cent. The report underlines there will always be clients turning up to query their service and to make changes to their accounts.
The company says it is revising its internal administrative procedures while planning to increase the number of customer care officers that handle its helpline.
ARMS Ltd highlights the measures taken to ease the pressure, including the setting up of a waiting area to accommodate 200 customers.
A multi-queuing system was introduced to improve the through-put and working hours were extended to winter time schedule from August 19.
The number of operators at the call centre was increased from nine to 12 with maximisation of the terminals available.
ARMS Ltd recommended to the government that the number of customer agents is increased by merging back office to front office, allowing agents to carry out back office work at counter desk.
The company is calling for a reduction in paperwork, es-pecially when clients file applications related to the number of people on an account and transfer transactions.
“The corporation should not carry any responsibilities of proof of property ownership,” the report remarks, referring to the documents sometimes requested by the courts.
ARMS Ltd also suggests the promotion of direct debits as a form of payment, enticing clients with a discount of some two per cent on their bills.
The report suggests the importance of allowing more flexibility in the account revision process and also says that discussions with Maltapost are taking place to subcontract meter readings until all smart meters are online.
The government recently said the customer care services of ARMS Ltd should move from Luqa to Gattard House in Blata l-Bajda by the end of the year. The company would also extend district offices in other places.
When contacted, Mr Fenech reiterated the government’s concern and determination to ensure the company provides efficient service to its customers.
“We also need to complete the discussions with the union on the new structures needed within ARMS to enable it to operate in an effective and efficient manner,” he said.