Millions written off under election-period APUA amnesty

Algernon Watts
The Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) wrote off several million dollars in outstanding customer debt under the utility amnesty introduced in the run-up to this year’s general election, although officials say most of the debt was so old it was already considered uncollectible.
Acting Financial Controller Sabrina Benjamin disclosed the scale of the write-off during Wednesday’s press conference on electricity and energy costs, after being questioned about the impact of the amnesty on APUA’s finances.
Benjamin did not provide an exact figure, saying the amount written off was “to the tune of a couple of millions.”
She said a significant number of customers took advantage of the programme but stressed that much of the debt had been sitting on APUA’s books for years and, in many cases, was attached to services that were no longer active.
“We would have had quite a bit of customers coming in to take advantage of the amnesty that was offered,” Benjamin said.
“In most cases, there were debts that were old, very old on our books, past the collectible stage, and in some instances, the services weren’t active.” 
The amnesty emerged during the election campaign period.
On 30 March, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said he would take a proposal to Cabinet to forgive outstanding APUA debt for customers whose services had been disconnected. The commitment came as the Government was rolling out a series of relief measures ahead of the general election.
Cabinet subsequently approved the programme in early April, after Parliament had been dissolved and preparations for the election were underway.
Under the initiative, residential customers whose electricity, water or telephone services had been disconnected for at least 180 days could have their outstanding arrears waived and apply for reconnection. 
APUA formally announced the programme on 10 April. Customers whose services had been disconnected on or before 30 September 2025 were eligible, with applications accepted until 29 May.
The programme was also publicly promoted during the election period as part of the Government’s relief agenda. An election-era advertisement described the initiative as the “forgiveness of electricity and water debt owed to APUA by disconnected households” and said a national reconnection programme was underway. 
Benjamin said some customers used the programme principally to clear longstanding liabilities attached to their names.
“So while we had quite an influx of customers and we did write off – it was to the tune of a couple of millions – the debt was really old. The majority of the debt was uncollectible,” she said.
Her comments came after she was asked whether the amnesty had contributed to APUA’s wider financial difficulties, including its obligations to West Indies Oil Company.
Benjamin’s response suggested the authority does not regard the write-off as a major cause of its current financial pressure because much of the money was unlikely to have been recovered even without the amnesty.
The disclosure nevertheless provides the first indication from APUA of the financial scale of the programme.
Officials did not provide the exact amount written off, the number of customers who benefited, how much debt was forgiven for electricity compared with water and telecommunications, or how much of the written-off amount related to active versus inactive accounts.