Dionne Rose, Parliamentary Reporter

Opposition Spokesman on energy and telecommunications, Clive Mullings, has moved a motion in the House of Representatives to make it illegal for utility companies to engage bill payment agencies that charges customers to pay utility bills above what is agreed under the tariff agreement.

Mr. Mullings moved the motion on Tuesday in the House. Mr. Mullings, in moving the resolution, pointed out that the public utilities companies have already calculated in their tariff regimes the cost of collection of revenue and to have these collection agencies charging the customers to pay the bill, would amount to be double charge.

He said this method of collecting revenue would avoid the jurisdiction of the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) as it relates to the calculation of the tariff regime of the utility companies.

The resolution read in part: "And whereas this has resulted in the overburdening of the consuming public, be it resolved that this honourable House call on the Government to make it illegal for public utility companies to engage any bill payment agencies, which charges any additional fees over and above what has been calculated to and agreed in the tariff regimes of the public utility companies."

Since the advent of bill payment agencies such as Paymaster and Bill Express, many utility companies have been closing down their own bill payment services and outsourcing them, limiting their customers' service-free bill payment options.

Recently, both Paymaster and Bill Express have imposed service fees in the range of $30 and $35 per transaction. This means an average customer paying his regular bills for electricity, water, cable and telephone would be subjected to a cost of between $120 and $140, in addition to his bills.

In a previous interview with The Gleaner, OUR director general, J. Paul Morgan had said that under current licences, utility companies are not obliged to provide customers with bill payment options that do not necessarily attract a service fee.

This, he said, was because bill payment agencies came into operation after the formulation and granting of licences to utility companies. Consequently, he said, there was no clause in the licences that would bind utility companies to provide bill payment options for the customers that do not attract service fees.

Mr. Morgan, however, insisted that customers of utility companies should not be subjected to service charges if the bill payment agency is situated within the utility company itself.