National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) has disclosed that unpaid water bills by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies have reached sh100 billion, deepening the Corporation’s financial challenges and hindering its efforts to expand water services across the country.
The revelation was made by NWSC Managing Director, Dr. Silver Mugisha, while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Environment and Natural Resources during the scrutiny of the Corporation’s 2025/26 ministerial policy statement.
“It’s true that agencies owe NWSC a lot of money, amounting to UGX100 billion. This accumulation is mainly due to under-budgeting. The funds allocated and approved in government agencies’ budgets do not match the actual volume of water consumed. It’s not that they don’t want to pay— they pay, but what they receive is less than what they owe,” Mugisha said.
When asked why NWSC has not accelerated the use of prepaid water meters to improve debt collection, Mugisha pointed to the high investment costs associated with the prepaid system, as well as technical vulnerabilities.
“We once had a system hack that crippled the prepaid water service. Restoring it was very expensive. That’s why we’re moving cautiously. We prefer to develop our own prepaid meter technology that we can troubleshoot independently. We already have a prototype and are working on scaling it up,” he explained.
He also noted that prepaid water meters require consistent credit, which many government agencies fail to maintain. In some ministries where the meters were installed, the Finance Ministry has repeatedly instructed NWSC to reconnect services when credit runs out, rendering the system ineffective and wasteful despite the heavy investment.
Dr. Mugisha also defended the Corporation’s decision to convert some staff roles to part-time, arguing that it was necessary to reduce employee costs, which currently account for 42% of NWSC’s budget—well above the industry norm of 35%.
“NWSC is facing significant challenges due to unpaid government water bills and rising operational costs. Employee benefits are a major expense, accounting for 42% of our budget. That’s above the industry benchmark of 35%. This is not financially sustainable,” he said.
He emphasized that the move is in line with the NWSC Act, which mandates the Corporation to operate in a financially and commercially viable manner.
“This trend is at odds with the Act. We are mandated to operate commercially. Our existence depends on being financially viable,” Mugisha said.
NWSC at aGlance
The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) is a public utility company wholly owned by the Government of Uganda. It was initially established under Decree No. 34 of 1972 as a public corporation mandated to provide water supply and sewerage services in designated urban areas.
The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) provides water services to 276 towns across 95 districts in Uganda, aiming to serve a target population of 20 million people. They operate through 930,000 water connections and 29,400 sewer connections, also offering services to the less privileged via 30,000 Public Stand Pipes (PSPs)
NWSC aims to provide reliable and efficient service, with a focus on improving customer satisfaction and addressing potential challenges in water supply