CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
Law 142 of 1994 established mechanisms for state regulation, control and oversight of public utilities, including social control through the Committees for the Development and Social Control of Household Public Utilities (CDCS).
The CDCS were created by Law 142 of 1994 as institutions in charge of exercising social control over the domiciliary public utilities of water, sewage, sanitation, energy, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Conditions to Participate in a CDCS
The person interested in joining a committee must meet at least one of the following conditions:
- User: person who benefits from the provision of a domiciliary public service; it may be the owner or possessor of the property, the person who receives the service or the person who habitually uses it.
- Subscriber: person who enters into a contract for the provision of residential public utilities with a provider.
- Potential subscriber: a person who has initiated inquiries to become a user of residential public utilities.
Prohibitions to Participate in a CDCS
They cannot be part of a CDCS:
- Officials of the organizations or providers subject to the committee's oversight.
- SSPD officials.
- Officials of the regulatory commission related to the public service to which the committee performs social control.
- Those who receive public services fraudulently or who request the connection of such services in areas where it is not possible to provide them, either because they are high risk areas or because they are considered to be of general interest.
Initiative to Form a CDCS
The initiative for the creation of a committee is the responsibility of the users, subscribers or potential subscribers of the public utilities of the municipality or district, who must convene an assembly in order to constitute it.
In the same municipality or district there may be several CDCS. In municipalities where the domiciliary public service providers serve less than two thousand five hundred (2500) users, only one CDCS may be constituted for all services.
For more information, users may contact the Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios.
