Roles of URA and utility companies explained through traditional story telling

The services of the Utility Regulatory Authority (URA) and utility companies were made clear to listeners gathered at Saralana Park, Port Vila lunch time Friday as part of the Fest’Napuan music festival program using a traditional story telling method to explain the difference in the services of the two organizations.

URA’s Consumer Protection Specialist, Didier Tuvuiae, took to the stage and told a story about a village, its setting and the decisions to improve the situation of the people of the village that aimed at clarifying this difference in the services provides by URA and utility companies.

In his story, Tuvuiae said that between the village and the gardening ground of the people is a creek, which flooded one day preventing the people from accessing food in their gardens.

“The chief of the village asked the people what should they do to solve this problem and one man suggested they build a canoe, to which many people considered unworkable as the canoe could be washed off and damaged by the flood or debris and rocks,” he said.

“The chief asked if anyone else had an idea, and one man suggested they build a bridge across the creek. Since this man knew how to build bridges as he had worked in construction companies before, the chief and the people agreed to give him some funding to help him build the bridge,” he continued his story.

Tuvuiae said that after the man completed the bridge, the chief and the people gave him permission to own and operate the bridge, to which he did. This man was married with two children, he added.

“After some time the man died and soon after that the man’s two children started arguing over the bridge and this prevented the people access to their gardens and the gardens began overgrowing with weeds and shrubs.

“Then the chief and the people decided to consult the man’s wife who spoke with the two children and they stopped arguing and allowed the bridge to reopen and the people started going back to their gardens,” he concluded his story.

Then he interpreted the story, explaining that the chief in the story is the government of Vanuatu. The village and its people are customers of utility companies. The owner of the bridge and his two children represent the utility companies that provide electricity and water. The woman and wife of the man that built and owned the bridge represent URA, the Utility Regulatory Authority, and the bridge is the services of electricity and water provided by the utility companies to the people.

Didier Tuvuiae said this story was told in such a traditional way of story-telling so people can understand the roles and responsibilities of URA in comparison to those of the utility companies.

The utility companies in Vanuatu today are UNELCO that provides electricity and water in Port Vila, Vui providing electricity in Luganville on Santo, Public Works Department that provides water in the islands, and small water companies such as those found in places like Beverly Hills outside Port Vila.

Tavuiae went on to list the achievements of URA since its establishment that include: overall reduction of electricity tariff in Luganville by 30%; transfer of street lighting in Port Vila and Luganville back to the utility companies; and it is now in the process of undertaking Port Vila, Tanna and Malekula tariff review with the permission of the Minister for Climate Change. For water – from September 2015, water tariff is to be reduced by 50% and they are undertaking a tariff review at Saratamata Penama Province headquarter on Ambae.