PHILIPSBURG—NV GEBE is facing more than Cg. 36.2 million in outstanding invoices spread across 16,021 domestic and commercial accounts, a situation Temporary Manager Iris Arrindell warned could place the utility company in serious financial difficulty if collections do not improve.
The outstanding balances represent an increase of 1,237% since 2022, with balances moving from Cg. 2.71 million to Cg. 36.23 million. Arrindell revealed the figures during her first press conference on Friday, held just five days after taking office, alongside members of GEBE's management team.
According to the figures, the number of accounts with outstanding invoices has risen dramatically over the past five years. In 2022, GEBE recorded 939 accounts with unpaid invoices. That figure increased to 1,942 in 2023, 3,792 in 2024, and 6,589 in 2025 before surging to 16,021 accounts year-to-date in 2026.
The majority of the delinquent accounts are residential customers. Of the 16,021 accounts with outstanding balances in 2026, 13,814 are domestic accounts and 2,207 are commercial accounts.
The value of those outstanding balances has also increased sharply. Total unpaid invoices stood at approximately Cg. 2.71 million in 2022 before rising to approximately Cg. 8.92 million in 2023, Cg. 25.66 million in 2024, Cg. 33.07 million in 2025 and Cg. 36.23 million year-to-date in 2026.
The 2026 figures show domestic customers owing Cg. 16.31 million while commercial customers owe Cg. 19.93 million.
Arrindell warned that failure to collect the outstanding funds could have severe consequences for the utility company. “If we don't collect these funds, it will put GEBE in a real financial situation,” she said. “This is one of the causes why a lot of those things won't be able to happen because we have to get a way to collect these outstanding amounts.”
The temporary manager said GEBE currently serves approximately 23,000 customers, of whom 9,526 are delinquent.
She also highlighted a number of challenges that have complicated collections since the March 2022 cyberattack. Arrindell said information created between March 2021 and March 17, 2022 was lost, while cash payments made after March 9, 2022 and before the hack could not be recovered.
To restore operations, management opted against issuing estimated bills through spreadsheets and instead hired a SAP consultant to rebuild the billing system using available digital and paper records. Among the records available were customer balances downloaded on March 9, 2022, meter readings, work orders created during 2021 and bank statements. Customers were also asked to continue making their regular payments through local banks.
The consultant determined that a bridge bill covering the period from March 2021 to February 2022 would be needed for continuity purposes. However, problems later emerged during the billing process when January meter readings were mistakenly used instead of February readings, requiring corrections to March 2022 bills for all customers.
Additional complications arose because many customers making bank payments did not include their contract account numbers, making it difficult for GEBE to identify where payments should be applied. “Every month we have about 200 persons moving on this little island here because we have a lot of rentals on this little island. Up to today we will have monies that we have received and we don't know where to apply those funds because no one came in. We don't have an account number so we don't know who the money belongs to,” Arrindell said.
She said landlord-tenant arrangements and outdated account information have also contributed to collection problems. Arrindell said GEBE's collection efforts are complicated by landlords who collect utility payments from tenants but fail to pay GEBE, accounts that remain in deceased persons' names due to inheritance issues, and frequent tenant turnover that leaves disputes over responsibility for outstanding bills.
Arrindell said GEBE has taken several steps to assist customers, including assuming responsibility for water leaks that occurred before December 2024, expanding payment plans and working with Social Services to assist persons facing financial hardship.
She noted that while GEBE's official payment-plan policy covers two years, some customers currently have arrangements extending as long as five years.
However, she said many customers continue paying only their payment-plan instalments while neglecting current monthly bills, preventing them from becoming current on their accounts.
Arrindell also stressed the impact that low collection rates are having on the company's finances. Arrindell said GEBE cannot sustain operations with only 58.6 per cent of customers paying their bills, as the funds collected must cover salaries, equipment maintenance, fuel, water purchases, mortgage payments and other expenses. Arrindell said the utility company had suspended disconnections for two weeks as a cooling-off period amid public concerns over billing and collections, but warned that the pause had already affected cash flow.
“GEBE took two weeks since this whole thing with the march started as a cooling-off period. We did not disconnect as last week, we did not disconnect this week. Our cash just start to go right down because no one is paying.” She thanked customers who continue to meet their obligations. “Today we want to thank that 58.6 per cent that are paying their bills because they are the ones who are keeping us,” Arrindell said. “Those who are paying the bills are the ones who are keeping us going.”
