Being aware of the Statement of Account and the amount of the invoices issued by Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE), for providing drinking water supply and sanitation services, will allow you to be up to date with your accounts in addition to avoiding extraordinary payments for default or affectation of the service. Here we indicate the options that you have available to process the payment, formulate claims among other important matters.
OSE Invoices
Access to drinking water and sanitation is stipulated as a right of Uruguayans, the waters are classified as public domain, hence the management of water resources, services and uses correspond to the public entity with competence in environmental matters. The supply of drinking water to the population is placed as a priority and one of the instruments provided to ensure it is charging for use.
The state policy on drinking water and sanitation (sanitary sewerage or other systems for the evacuation, treatment or disposal of sewage, collection and disposal of solid waste), seeks to ensure access to these public services for reasons of public health.
Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE), is the state entity responsible for supplying drinking water and providing comprehensive sanitation services throughout the territory of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. The company implements policies and plans aimed at ensuring the sustainable management of water resources, seeking a harmonious relationship with the environment.
The actions of the OSE, regarding the assurance of the availability and access of drinking water and sanitation services, imply defining the beneficiaries as clients to whom they must pay an amount of money to the service provider. The Client as a natural person constitutes, according to current regulations, the owner of the service that is contracted, even when the direct user is not considered. State Sanitation Works, establishes segments based on the characteristics that it assumes in its interaction for the enjoyment and payment of fees for the service.
Rates and Customer Segments
The rates that are applied to carry out the provision of services are established taking into account whether the connection that defines the contractual clauses are of an individual or collective type, for this it establishes a first categorization specifying those established by type of service: drinking water, integral sanitation or against fire. a second differentiation is established around the destination or nature of the use, observing among these the rates for the residential, commercial, industrial and official segments.
For these reasons, as a client before reviewing the Statement of Account of the SBI Uruguay, you can locate the type of segment and the conditions established in the contract signed with the state company, because from there the components of the rates are derived and consequently those established in the amount of the invoice are detailed charges that are monthly, classified as fixed and variable.
Fixed and Variable Charges
The Fixed Charges are Related to the distribution and purification of Water, established according to the technical and operational characteristics of the service infrastructure and geographical characteristics of the area. The maintenance of operational facilities for sanitation and those used in actions against fire that affect the normality of services.
The Variable Charges, which are linked to the numerical functions that are inherent to the monthly amount for the cubic meters of water fixed according to the type of segment that benefits, this price is established according to the results that the use of the meter shows. This attribute also includes the percentage of water, and what is provided by the National Directorate of Firefighters for the activation of the mechanisms provided to deal with eventualities within its competence.
Likewise, charges are considered for adjustments for estimates of water consumption or special discounts for vulnerable sectors such as pensioners, rural settlements or shelters formalized by the OSE, through official communications. The charges for Integrated Value Tax that are imposed on taxpayers in the commercial or industrial segments are also included in the rates, exonerating those intended for family or residential consumption.
This is detailed in the official information of OSE, on Customer Segments and Offerable Rates that can be reviewed on the Web Portal, which specifies, among other rates: residential, housing according to the meter, residential and concurrent commercial, commercial, special, for retirees, shelters or subsidized rural. As well as those that correspond to sanitation (conventional or effluent) and against fire.
How does the OSE define Invoices?
The application of the rates is materialized through the invoice and depends on the characteristics of the pre-existing contract, the charges correspond to a period that is established according to a range that goes from twenty-eight (28) to thirty-two (32) days. This is the basis for the apportionment of the rate, when the authorities decide to make changes in the rates, customers according to the segment go to the offices to change the terms if they agree with the consumption blocks that will be applied.
The issuance of OSE Invoices implies the implementation of a set of processes that associate the rates for variable and fixed costs of the drinking water, sanitation and fire services contracted by the client in a certain geographical space. The components are sent to the client in a single invoice that details the cost of each of the contracted services that is in force, generally the OSE calls for the updating of the contracts.
The invoice acquires a unique character as long as it corresponds to a service account, when it is issued with copies, for its collection it is assigned a number and expiration date. Another element is that this cannot be confused with the OSE Account Statement. Invoices can be collected in other circumstances such as contract complaints, extraordinary charges, re-invoicing for irregular consumption, withdrawal of connection.
What are the Components of the Invoice?
The OSE adapts the design of the service bill to facilitate subsequent actions on payments, claims or suggestions for the client, the relevant data is aimed at raising awareness about the rational use of drinking water but also to vindicate the activities inherent to integral sanitation.
The invoice for its review and evaluation of charges includes a Security code, which can be verified at www.ose.com.uy, the proof of payment of VAT, Expiration date as an expression of the period to which the rates established therein correspond, type of document the number, the breakdown of the taxable activity according to the control rate, the detail of the series and the number, the meter used to estimate consumption and its comparison with the previous cut-off period, account number with the customer's personal data and total balance to be paid.
New invoice design
In the new design, it is easy for the client to be able to evaluate how the evolution of the consumption of services has been, he can decide if he has an outstanding debt if he will make the total or fractional payment of the amount on the cut-off date. The client can obtain their invoice through the website www.ose.com.ve.
OSE invoices, presents that in case of irregularities amounts or commissions for fines can be included. However, the agreements establish the payment for late payments and arrears, a fact that can be avoided by making the payments within the time periods provided for it.
An opportunity offered by the service provider is that the client can request the change of expiration date for up to ten (10) calendar days from the expiration date, this gives slack so that you can match the dates on which they receive salaries. or other income, you can do it only once for the unit responsible for OSE invoices. The vulnerable population benefits from a one hundred percent exoneration of the billing.
Another element, the client joins the service for sending the invoice by email, entering the web portal https://loguno.ose.com.uy/usuariounq.aspxTo do so, voluntarily complete the fields of the registration form in the spaces identified with Type of Identification Document, choosing between an identity card, passport, Single Tax Registry that identifies companies and people who carry out economic activities, Passport or another, write the identification document number, First Surname, Second Surname, Date of Birth, landline and mobile phone. In the final part of the tab, place the Account Number, email address, add, click save.
For information on OSE Invoices and payments, they are provided once you are registered on the platform and enter your account, review payments and agreements, duplicate invoices, see the historical evolution of consumption and balances. Payment systems with bank debit, local collections, Cabal cards, Club del Este, Creditel, Direct Credits, Pass Card, OCA and Visa are available, entering the web debiting your accounts, or through ATMs. Remember, avoid cutting your services, the application of fines and surcharges for late payment, since they affect your history and will generate costs for reconnection.
Online procedures and consultations available
The site http://facturas.ose.com.uy/SGCv10WebClient/MenuTramitesConsultas.faces#menu, you can initiate procedures related to data updating, change in address, consultation on the status of procedures, termination of contract, affiliation to services, proof of debts, among others.
Steps to follow to Check the OSE Account Status
The Account Statement differs from the invoices because it contains the record of the movements made in the account contracted by the client, and generally with it a real vision of the consumption and availability of the service is obtained, after the collection of the bill.
The Account according to the Rates and Billing Regulations, is approached as an entity in which the type of interaction that exists between the client is described in detail (according to the classification segment), this becomes for the client a tool that groups the contracted services maintaining their specificity, whose payment rates are established in the invoice. The account is relevant to the extent that its content determines the information on payment terms, expiration, type of invoice in a certain cycle.
What affects the movements of your account has to do with the way in which the payment system is approached, whether you are a natural or legal person, for contracts you are simply a client who must comply with their obligations to have and access the service network from service. In this context, the activity log of the account can be accessed, with the following steps:
- Access the online services of Obras Sanitarias del Estado.
- Enter the Enter Account Interface.
- Enter the Account Number indicated on your invoice.
- Enter the text that appears on the image.
- One click to enter the Account.
- You will be able to review in the interface of invoices and payments.
- Choose the movements of your accounts by periods.
- Download and print if necessary.
Options to make the Consultation
Telephone channels are available through fonoagua 08001871, where a customer service official will assist you to process your query, modify it or cancel it. Another fact, you can reserve the time to formulate your procedure, this way from your Antel, Claro or Movistar mobile. An important detail to review the account is to attend the calls to regularize the Contract, without additional costs, by calling or attending an OSE branch, you must provide the operator with your information and the contract number.
Mechanisms to process Claims
Clients constantly express their disagreement with the way in which the OSE, through its administrative and operational units, conduct the supply of drinking water and integral sanitation services, expressing in some cases irregularities in the maintenance of critical infrastructures, increase in rates or lack of recognition for payments. Under this premise, the client can submit their complaint digitally, by filling in the Complaint Entry form located on the screen. http://facturas.ose.com.uy/SGCv10WebClient/MenuFacturasYPagos.faces, with the following data:
- Type of claim in which you will define the alternative that suits your concern.
- Data of the location of the claim where you must specify.
- The Department choosing in the nomenclator the one that corresponds to its geographical location.
- Define the Locality affected by the situation raised as irregular or extraordinary.
- Specific data on the naming of streets.
- Door number of the residential or commercial location.
- Data of the person making the complaint, detailing Name, telephone, e-mail.
- In the claims, the space corresponding to the description, since here the client can argue the causes of the problem.
- Enter the text that appears in the image and enter.
- accept
- Wait for the service provider's response
You can also go to a branch, following the biosecurity measures, in addition to taking the data that identifies the contract and your identification, as well as other precautions that you consider pertinent to process your request.
Types of OSE Claims
Depending on the type of situation SBI claims, will give you answers in a certain time, these according to the icon on the main screen are linked to clandestine connections, but it is not a condition that restricts your right to raise problems of another nature, linked to the service. The Claims are classified by their nature of there we find:
- Operational Claims, with functionalities linked to cases of complaints for loss of drinking water service, interruption or deficiencies in the supply of drinking water, water quality when it does not meet the characteristics of potability, interior sanitation due to affectation of aqueducts or sewage, waste collection and sewage, among others
- Commercial claims, the causes generally affect the billing amounts or directly affect the finances of the clients, among these when the client determines that a high level of estimated consumption does not correspond to the actual consumption, error in the basic data on which the signed the service supply contract, error in rates or over-billing, error in meter reading, among other disruptive circumstances in access to a quality public service.
We were able to analyze the tools available to the OSE Client, to corroborate their invoices and the Account Statement, derived from the service contract signed with OSE. However, it may be useful to review other cases related to the provision of public services such as those referenced in the following links.
View an account statement and Cordoba water debts
How Easily Check Water Debts in Mexico