Vivaqua billing errors include charging 10 times the correct amount

Water company Vivaqua continues to be plagued by IT problems, citing computer errors as the reason that some bills were multiplied by a factor of 10.

René Konings, a Brussels resident and chief executive of the employers’ organisation Voka Brussels, told Bruzz he was shocked when he received his water bill at the beginning of January.

Konings was asked to pay €1,980 as a provisional payment for each of the next three quarters, or a total advance payment of €5,940 for nine months.

When Konings contacted Vivaqua’s customer service department, it admitted that the calculation was wrong and had an extra zero, meaning the provisional bills were actually €198 per month.

Other customers are also likely to be affected due to the source of the error, which Vivaqua customer service said was due to an IT error.

“Due to a computer problem, these types of documents were affected, causing customers’ advance payments to be multiplied by a factor of 10,” the company said.

This is in spite of the fact that six months ago, the water company stated in its annual report that the IT problems that completely disrupted billing between 2022 and 2024 had finally been resolved.

The billing chaos back then caused the water company to lose out on revenue, and customers to this day are still receiving hefty corrective bills for Vivaqua’s incorrect calculations in the past.

A resident of Saint-Gilles testified that at the beginning of January she suddenly received a water bill for €459, on top of her monthly advance payments. Her enquiries revealed that this was for adjustments for the past four years.

The property management company Office des Propriétaires confirmed that many files from previous years have not yet been adjusted. This means that many adjustment bills are likely to be on their way, but there could be administrative difficulties as some residents have since moved away.

For years, Vivaqua has often had difficulty getting its invoicing right when residents move house.

A radio journalist from Nostalgie reported on X that after he moved to Brussels, it took no less than 18 months for his file to be opened at Vivaqua.

The ongoing billing problems are particularly painful because Vivaqua recently implemented a 12.5% price increase and is carrying a debt of more than €1 billion.

Brussels MP Olivier Willocx (MR) said on LinkedIn that he was also "a victim of the dysfunctions" at Vivaqua and that he intends to raise the issue in parliament.

“We are calling for an investigation into the political responsibilities within the intermunicipal company,” he said.

“We are also asking for clarification of the financial exposure of the region and the municipalities to the colossal debt and solid guarantees, so that Vivaqua’s management errors can no longer be passed on - directly or indirectly - to users.”

Vivaqua is currently owned by the Brussels municipalities, each of which sends one or more representatives to the board of directors. The chairman is David Weytsman (MR), the CPAS chairman of Brussels-City, and the chief executive of the water company is Laurence Bovy (PS).

Bovy is asking the region for €30 million per year because Vivaqua is struggling to meet its debt repayments with the income from water bills, but the region has many other financial problems to deal with and is not keen to take on extra debt.

As chief executive of the Brussels branch of Voka, Konings is calling for a thorough review of Vivaqua, both in terms of management and cost structure, before any transfer to the region is even considered.

“Vivaqua is a painful example of Brussels bureaucracy: everyone is in charge, no one is responsible,” Konings said.

“They hide behind the status of intermunicipal company, but pass on the bill for poor management to the region, and ultimately it’s the entrepreneurs and residents who dutifully pay the price.”