“Azersu” cannot work properly; does the president negotiate with foreign companies?

The owner of a cottage in the village of Turkan informed Turan that drinking water is provided in the village on odd days of the week. He was informed in “Azersu” OJSC, that  water supply would only be on odd days because of the water shortage, and such a regime would last indefinitely.

After calling the residents of other Absheron settlements, Turan managed to find out that interruptions in water supply occur everywhere. In Zira, "there is no water at all", in Mardakian, "water is turned off  without a schedule, whenever they please. There is no stable water at night, during the day I can't understand the scheme, or rather, there is no water," said a resident of the village. In the  Akhmedli settlement water is  supplied every other day; in Bına  water is supplied twice a day for three hours.

Citizens again began to install water tanks and build water intake wells that had not been used for many years. Residents advise to water trees from wells, and those who do not have wells should dig it by hiring specialists. Digging a well costs 100-300 manats per meter, depending on the soil and technology. But in most cases, the water in the wells is salty,  undrinkable, even watering the trees is dangerous because salt dries the plants.

The installation of an osmotic (membrane) saltwater purification system costs more than three thousand manats.

“Azersu” confirms the lack of drinking water caused by dry years. Official statements of this department report about the water supply in Absheron according to the schedule. Anar Jabrayilli, told reporters, restrictions on the supply of water are practiced in settlements adjacent to Baku, where there is no centralized water supply or sewerage network, the press service of the ministry. In such places, the water consumption is large, there is limited water supply at night. The goal is to save water for the supply of citizens in the summer months.

Jabrayilli also spoke about the uneconomical use of water by citizens, some steal water without paying for consumption. He said that currently 250 thousand out of 1 million 750 thousand subscribers do not have water meters.

Bills to such subscribers are submitted on the basis of the daily consumption rate of the standard, which is 5 cubic meters per person per month. The average Azerbaijani family consists of 4 people. And this means that 1 million people use water without meters. In their absence, it is not possible to name the exact amount of water they consume. Formally, according to the standard, one person from the population category consumes 60 cubic meters of water per year or one million people consume 60 million cubic meters of water per year. In reality, this figure may be several times higher, for example, 120 or 240 million cubic meters. Payment is charged for 60 million cubic meters. And the remaining volumes are written off as a leak. Hence the company's debts are growing. Losses to these parameters alone range from 80 million to 160 million manats per year.

In 2021, the Tariff Council satisfied “Azersu's” desire and doubled the cost of water for individuals - up to 70 gepik per cubic meter. (60 gepik for subscribers outside Baku, Sumgayit, Khirdalan and Absheron districts).

Question: why has not “Azersu” closed the "black hole" called "payment without a counter" yet?

In 2006, the President of “Azersu”, Nizameddin Rzayev, promised to complete the installation of meters throughout the country at the end of 2008. In 2006, “Azersu” reported on servicing 880 thousand subscribers throughout the country. Of these, 860 thousand belonged to the category of population. Then it was promised to provide all subscribers with meters in 2012. At that time, the number of subscribers with counters reached 1 million. That is, over 12 years, the company has installed only about 749 thousand water-meters, or about 62.4 thousand per year. Having branches in all urban and rural areas, throughout the country, “Azersu” failed to cope with the government task.

In 2011, Rzayev was dismissed by the president from the post of Chairman of “Azersu” OJSC without explanation, but in February 2015 he returned to this company as an adviser to the first deputy chairman of “Azersu”. Then Gorkhmaz Huseynov was the chairman of JSC. He was fired in 2021. The work on installing counters did not get any better from the personnel leapfrog in the “Azersu” manual.

Let us compare it with a similar other utility company: “Azeriqaz” OJSC charges a full fee exclusively through meters. Also, the electrical distribution company “Azerişıq.” Theoretically, each consumer of the services of these companies - the population or companies, pay according to consumption. In fact, other dubious schemes are sometimes used, but all consumers have meters, despite the fact that gas and electric meters are structurally more complicated and more expensive than water ones. And the “Azersu” has not yet equipped the whole country with devices that save water.

Every year “Azersu” operates at a loss, receiving a subsidy from the state. At the beginning of 2022, the total debt of this joint-stock company was 8 billion manats. How will the government cope with the burden called OOO “Azersu”, which works with violations of the law, has repeatedly sought to increase the cost of its services, but continues to work at a loss?

Turan has published articles on identified cases of illegal actions in the regional departments of “Azersu”. The facts are shown that the gaps in the work of “Azersu” are beneficial to its top and middle managers, who have created a system of illegal collection of money from the population to cover the debts of non-paying subscribers and the appropriation of large sums of money.

For example, one of the schemes for assigning funds works this way. A citizen or usually a group of citizens, allegedly arbitrarily, are connected to the water supply. This is done through intermediaries for a very decent amount – about a thousand manats per point. Then “Azersu” draws up an act and fines citizens for unauthorized connection. And finally, it legalizes them by registering them with its subscribers according to internal rules. Although according to the law on water supply and wastewater, such a connection is a gross violation of the law, and violators are brought to justice. The law does not provide for their legalization as subscribers.

At the same time, the “Azersu” reports that the connections of such subscribers to the water supply are at the expense of the company.

We contacted “Azersu” for clarification, but the company avoided commenting on this issue.

On March 15, 2023, President Ilham Aliyev met with leading companies in Germany and said that the country's goal is to provide 100% of citizens with drinking water. Moreover, the president did not say when it would be. He admitted that it would be difficult to complete the task because there is a lot of work to be done. The President of the German company “Tauber”, which has already worked in Azerbaijan, expressed readiness for cooperation.

I. Aliyev's meeting with German companies suggests that he does not believe in the success of the work of local companies and is going to appeal to foreigners.