Panama has a problem in debt collection with its citizens. Most of this uncollected debt is from individuals and small businesses who have not paid their water or sewer fees. To some degree you can't blame them as without a reliable postal service no bills are sent out. You are expected to find out what you owe and go and pay it. Because Panama does not make it easy to pay and no way to show the customer how
much they owe and how much more expensive it is getting as the interest
and late fees are applied, folks just ignore it and the noncollectable's grow. The government has
called for outside collection agencies to do this dirty work and I will
be curious to see just how effective they will be and just how far the
government will allow a private firm to go to collect.
In Chiriqui the local municipal has a similar problem. When they go to a home to collect for the $18 a year water fee, their is never anyone at home. As most of the farms are tapping into whatever water source is available and finding a shut off valve is impossible. So, if you can't cut the service and nobody is ever home it becomes a challenging game of cat and mouse.
