Prime Minister Gaston Browne has addressed growing public concerns about utility services in Antigua and Barbuda, focusing on high water and electricity bills, service inefficiencies, and allegations of political interference within the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA).
Browne acknowledged the challenges posed by APUA’s operations, describing the agency’s performance as a significant threat to his administration.
“The greatest threat to my administration is not the opposition—it is APUA, particularly the Water Division,” he stated.
The Prime Minister shared specific examples of service failures, including delays in resolving water leaks and ensuring consistent water supply during critical periods.
“During the St Mary’s South by-election, there was no water in some areas despite clear directives to prioritize the plant there,” he recalled, adding that such lapses undermine public trust and the government’s development goals.
Public complaints about high utility bills, particularly for water and electricity, have been a recurring issue. Browne noted unexplained spikes in bills, attributing some of the problems to inefficiencies and potential malfunctions within APUA’s system. He stressed the need for leadership to take personal responsibility for resolving these issues. “If management cannot meet the necessary standards, they should be replaced,” he said.
The Prime Minister highlighted that while APUA provides critical services, its response to water leaks and service disruptions has been slow and inadequate. “We have a chat group to monitor leaks and issues, but sometimes the response takes days. If they’re too tired and can’t get the job done, they need to move out of the way,” Browne declared.
Addressing concerns about political interference within APUA, Browne did not rule out the possibility of deliberate sabotage. “It’s not inconceivable that some elements within APUA may be weaponizing the system against the government,” he remarked, though he stressed that further investigation is needed to substantiate such claims.
Browne also pointed to the timing of service disruptions, particularly during election periods, as suspicious.
“Every time there’s an electoral contest, there’s a major service problem. It raises questions,” he said, urging vigilance to ensure APUA operates in the public’s best interest.
The Prime Minister criticized the agency’s focus on bureaucratic processes, such as key performance indicators (KPIs) and strategies, which he argued fail to translate into practical solutions. “People need water in their pipes—KPIs and strategies mean nothing if basic services aren’t delivered,” he stated.
Browne praised proactive measures by certain individuals within APUA, such as General Manager Brad Martin, who has personally addressed service issues. He called for more hands-on leadership and modernized operations to improve efficiency and meet customer expectations.
Despite these challenges, Browne reaffirmed his government’s commitment to improving utility services and restoring public confidence in APUA. He expressed optimism about future reforms, including exploring the potential for bringing in experts to manage the Water Division if necessary. “We cannot allow APUA to become the Achilles’ heel of this administration. It’s time to ensure proper management and accountability,” he said.
The Prime Minister also encouraged citizens to take their health and well-being seriously, noting that clean water and reliable services are essential to improving quality of life. He called on APUA’s leadership to prioritize solutions that directly address the needs of the people.
Browne’s remarks underline the urgency of addressing longstanding issues at APUA to ensure it fulfills its role in supporting Antigua and Barbuda’s development.
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Yes! It is time that we up our game as citizens of this gorgeous land and take responsibility and accountability. We cannot continue to lament and blame. In my homeland NAWASA peruse all 120 square miles of our country in addition to the specific fault lines for reporting leaks. There was a leak in my area and the following day there was no leak. We are all our brothers keepers so everybody look out for each other and the community. It has been done and it can be done my peoples. Just as our PM makes us proud we should make him proud my peoples.
All he (gaston) is saying, in my opinion, is that he wants to fire the Water Manager.
Firstly, the General Manager was the problem and he was replaced (lol). Now, it appears as if it is the Water Manager turn.
Let’s watch and see.
The prime minister is unpredictable at shaking up the elite APUA management, the solutions is not just getting other manager, unless it comes with real engineering indifference to the cultural mileau here where job is entitled by politics or family connection, the situation in APUA let s look at an electricity manager having the mechanical engineer subordinates to him is a sabotage, in other countries they have a generations manager, that person will see to it the engines function and put the electricity manager to work distributing the product, but as it stands now the electricity manager is stifling all these other engineer to his limited capacity, and that electricity manager don’t have the capacity to realize that that water plant high speed motors will fail continuously because the line apparatus to correct the vars like regulators where we only have passive feeders that has the same effect at the customer home and the water plant which will need static vars compensator and regulators to step up the voltage, and that the power consumption of these water desalination plants are equivalent to a village power consumption so the APUA will now jump into estimation mode to bill the customers instead of using the actual reading the meter personnel brings in, along with the power suppression which stop the meters from working daily we can see where the electricity manager and accountant have to come up with an estimate bill, APUA should be working hotline so there is no power outage, but go ahead prime minister we need more technical capacity to build our institutional capacity, but if you get an engineer you must supply the budget for them to work.
Sabotage? Undermining? You have to be kidding! The utilities issues (in all divisions) stated have been the same since my childhood. I am now 56. Wheel and come again.
I will never Vote again until i have better roads to drive on that im paying road tax for which is costing me a lot for vehicle maintenance , and fluent water running through my pipe. Apua dont care, the government dont care either bcuz its been years now n yet nothing done. Im paying water bill n still not getting water..its modern time now man n we still throwing up water from bucket n bath to wash our skin. I voted for better but not seeing it so Hence the reason im keeping my vote.
So now that the UPP has been destroyed he has turned his attention to APUA. You might not like them but we need a strong opposition for good governance.
Any constituent that would change their vote based on whether water was on the day of the by-election deserves whatever they get. Does the PM really think a day of water can make up for years of poor service?
This has been going on for yearssssssssss.
I love you PM but your Cabinet must take the blame for the breakdown of infrastructure. Your Minister of APUA and the Board should be fired immediately. 200 million spent and many areas still can’t get water. And the pipes excuse is a poor one. We get water now and then which indicates no pipe problem. Some areas like Old Road hardly gets water, period. And 2 years after spending 200 million dollars and that is how long it has taken for you and your cabinet to realise that no one at APUA Water has a clue and only now are you seeking consultants to tell you what is wrong. I can tell you what is wrong. It is a bunch of incompetents in charge.
APUA is a joke I cut my water service in March 2023 and I am still getting charged for water lol
I wholeheartedly agree with the Honourable PM. APUA and it’s subsidiary brand Inet/iMobile needs to do better seriously. It’s sad and disheartening to do business with IMOBILE at this point. Going in to pay your bills is a nightmare. And the constant rhetoric of Unfortunately we’re understaffed at the moment is just not going to cut it.
There is no reason a customer should have to wait an hour to pay a bill or be queued for extensive timeframes just to get their accounts sorted. Just today I went for a simple top up and was made to wait twice at that for 40 minutes.. I legit walked out on both occasions. Inet has signs for designated lines regarding bill payments, new device and SIM card assistance and yet everyone is made to jumble up in one line(outside of utilities line) because and I quote the ridiculous lady worker. “There is no specific line in here.” But of course she can’t do a top up. Then what’s your purpose? The app doesn’t work. The internet portal option to settle your accounts also don’t work and you have two tellers working out front. How does that make any sense.. I’m pretty sure that APUA HAS THE CAPACITY TO EMPLOY ADDITIONAL SERVICE PERSONS. pretty damn sure! How about fixing the damn app? How about fixing the net Portal? There isn’t even a vendor outside that is carrying IMOBILE top up service… And if there are Kudos to you but I know it would only be a few…Absolute bullshit. I am all for supporting local businesses but when you have shit service like this with no iota of trying to improve. forget it.. I will not be spending my money there.. absolute crap service. If only I could utilise another service for Electricity etc I’d cut APUA and INET out of my life for good so fast their heads would roll… Absolute rubbish of a company and service.
For the last three months now I’ve been paying my bills and it’s the same excuse. We’re understaffed. We’re working on improving the app. The Net portal is being upgraded…. Well by the looks of it … APUA will never be getting anywhere. Nothing but lies and cheap tricks. APUA AND INET as a homegrown service provider should be leading the pack and touting excellence and yet somehow falls short in every aspect. How? Why?
Beyond annoyed
APUA has the staffs but most of them are lazy. Even the supervisors doesn’t know how to schedule the staffs. No one should not be waiting in line for an hour or more to pay or sorting their bill. Some of the staffs steered at the computer like it’s the first time they’re using it. Either the staffs are incompetent or they are afraid of the computer. Some times you go to pay your bills and they are two or three cashiers available. The supervisors need to get on deck and assist in cashing not walking around the city window shopping. The entire APUA needs revamping. Whatever the private businesses are doing in Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇬 in customer service, APUA and all government departments need to follow. If there ever is a private company to comes on board in Antigua and Barbuda that provides better water, electricity and internet services, APUA doom. We the taxpayers of little Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇬 needs better service from the government—stop hired political friends and hired people who are willing and ready to provide better customer service to the people of the country.
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