Water, sewerage and/or sanitation services, those who provide these services may defer for a period of thirty-six {36} months the collection of bills, for fixed charges and consumption, from residential users of strata 1 and 2, issued from the issuance of Legislative Decree 528 of 2020 until July 31, 2020, without being able to transfer to the end user any interest or financial cost for the deferral of collection.

For these deferred payments it will be possible to contract direct credits with the Financiera de Desarrollo Territorial S.A. (FINDETER for its Spanish acronym), providing with liquidity or working capital to the lenders of these services. The terms of these credits could be longer than the legal limit established for the amortization of the operation credits for the service providers, when due to their legal nature, they should comply with these limits; however, they could not exceed thirty six (36) months.

The resources allocated to the direct credit operation will be the same available to cover the financing provided for in Articles 1 and 2 of Legislative Decree 528 of 2020, therefore the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory must inform the beneficiaries that the amount of certified resources is sufficient to cover the measure of extension of the deferred payment.

Regarding the users of strata 3 and 4 and those of industrial and commercial use, payment of their invoices may be deferred for a period of twenty-four (24) months. This must include the fixed charge and non-subsidized consumption to residential users of strata 3 and 4, and those of industrial and commercial uses, issued from the declaration of the State of Economic, Social and Ecological Emergency contained in Decree 637 of May 6, 2020 until July 31, 2020.

It is appropriate to specify that for the creation of re-discount lines with a compensated rate for the financing of the public service sector, during the Health Emergency declared by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, on the occasion of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Financiera de Desarrollo Territorial S.A. (FINDETER for its Spanish acronym) may establish re-discount lines with a compensated rate for companies providing public services of electric energy and fuel gas through networks, official, mixed and private, supervised by the Superintendence of Public Home Services, in order to provide them with liquidity or working labour, to implement the measures for the deferral of payment of the cost of billing for electric energy, fuel gas through networks to residential users of strata 1 and 2, in the amount that exceeds the basic consumption or subsistence and for residential users of strata 3 and 4. the following should be noted:

1. It is important to emphasize that official or mixed public service enterprises will be exempted from the limits on State debt set forth by the applicable rules. In any case, they must comply with the debt authorizations contained in article 2.2.1.2.2.3 of Decree 1068 of 2015, added by Decree 473 of 2020.
2. Through the credit regulations FINDETER (for its Spanish acronym) will establish the conditions of the re-discount lines. 
3. The resources of the compensated rate will be financed with the resources of the Emergency Mitigation Fund (FOME for its Spanish acronym).
4. In the event that guarantees are required, public utilities companies may deploy:a.    
   a.    The assignment of the unsubsidized portion of accounts receivable or invoices due from users of any stratum
   b.    Subsidies caused or to be caused by the service
   c.    Any other sufficient guarantee for the financial institution, multilateral or bilateral, providing the liquidity facility
5. The amounts of these credits will be established by the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory and will be subject to the credit study carried out by the intermediary.

In the case of non-profit entities such as Zoos, Wildlife Holders, Aviaries, Aquariums and Botanical Gardens or similar entities, the fixed charge and the consumption not subsidized by may be deferred for a term of thirty-six (36) months for the consumptions caused during the present Social and Ecological Economic Emergency and the sixty (60) days following said declaration, without any interest or financial cost being transferred to the final user for the deferral of the charge.

In reference to demand subsidies, Article 87.9 of Law 142 of 1992 was modified. 

Likewise, the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory may grant a demand subsidy to those organizations authorized to provide water services, supervised by the Superintendence of Public Home Services that serve subscribers in rural areas. The amount of the subsidy shall be granted monthly as of the effective date of this Decree and until December 31, 2020. The above does not apply to water service providers that receive the direct transfer established in Article 4 of Legislative Decree 528 of 2020.Finally, the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory will establish through a resolution the conditions and requirements for the granting of this subsidy and the resources to subsidize it may be covered by FOME (for its Spanish acronym) resources.

Finally, until 31 December 2020, local authorities may assume all or part of the cost of the public sanitation service for users, taking into account the availability of resources available to them for this purpose and the need to prioritize allocations for people with lower incomes. In cases where the public toilet service is charged through joint billing agreements with the water, sewerage, energy or gas services, and the local authorities decide to assume all or part of the cost of the public toilet service for users, they shall transfer the corresponding resources directly to the public toilet service provider.

Decree 819 of 2020