Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2018

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

8. Contingencies

CW-Bahamas

CW-Bahamas’ accounts receivable balances due from the WSC amounted to $16.6 million as of June 30, 2018 as compared to $9.1 million as of December 31, 2017. The increase in these accounts receivable has adversely impacted the liquidity of this subsidiary.

CW-Bahamas has also experienced similar delays in collecting its accounts receivable from the WSC in several prior years. During these times, the Company arranged meetings and held discussions with representatives of the WSC and the Bahamas government to formulate a payment schedule for WSC’s delinquent accounts receivable and such amounts were eventually paid in full. Based upon this payment history, CW-Bahamas has never been required to provide an allowance for doubtful accounts for any of its accounts receivable, despite the periodic accumulation of significant delinquent balances.

But despite its requests to date, during 2018 CW-Bahamas has not received any information as to why its accounts receivable have not been paid, nor has it received a proposed payment schedule for these receivables, from the WSC or the Bahamas government.

Although the $16.6 million accounts receivable balance due from the WSC as of June 30, 2018 is among the largest in CW-Bahamas’ history, given (i) the WSC’s and the Bahamas government’s prior payment history; and (ii) that the Company knows of no reason why such receivables should be in dispute, the Company believes that these accounts receivable from the WSC are fully collectible and have not recorded an allowance for doubtful accounts for any portion of these receivables.

Cayman Water

The Company sells water through its retail operations under a license issued in July 1990 by the Cayman Islands government that grants Cayman Water the exclusive right to provide potable water to customers within its licensed service area. As discussed below, this license was set to expire in July 2010 but has since been extended while negotiations for a new license take place. Pursuant to the license, Cayman Water has the exclusive right to produce potable water and distribute it by pipeline to its licensed service area, which consists of two of the three most populated areas of Grand Cayman, the Seven Mile Beach and West Bay areas. For the three months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, the Company generated approximately 39% and 39%, respectively, of its consolidated revenues and 53% and 52%, respectively, of its consolidated gross profit from the retail water operations conducted pursuant to Cayman Water’s exclusive license. For the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, the Company generated approximately 40% and 40%, respectively, of its consolidated revenues and 54% and 54%, respectively, of its consolidated gross profit from the retail water operations conducted pursuant to Cayman Water’s exclusive license.

The license was originally scheduled to expire in July 2010 but has been extended several times by the Cayman Islands government in order to provide the parties with additional time to negotiate the terms of a new license agreement. The most recent extension of the license expired on January 31, 2018. The Company continues to provide water subsequent to January 31, 2018 on the assumption that the license has been further extended to allow the parties to continue negotiations without interruption to an essential service.

In October 2016, the Government of the Cayman Islands passed legislation which created a new utilities regulation and competition office (“OfReg”). OfReg is an independent and accountable regulatory body with a view of protecting the rights of consumers, encouraging affordable utility services, and promoting competition. OfReg, which began operations in January 2017, has the ability to supervise, monitor and regulate multiple utility undertakings and markets. Supplemental legislation was passed by the Government of the Cayman Islands in April 2017, which transferred responsibility for economic regulation of the water utility sector and the retail license negotiations from the WAC to OfReg in May 2017. The Company began license negotiations with OfReg in July 2017 and such negotiations are continuing.

Under its present license, Cayman Water pays a royalty to the government of 7.5% of its gross retail water sales revenues (excluding energy cost adjustments). The selling prices of water sold to its customers are determined by the license and vary depending upon the type and location of the customer and the monthly volume of water purchased. The license provides for an automatic adjustment for inflation or deflation on an annual basis, subject to temporary limited exceptions, and an automatic adjustment for the cost of electricity on a monthly basis. The WAC, on behalf of the government, previously reviewed and confirmed the calculations of the price adjustments for inflation and electricity costs. Regulatory responsibility for the water utility sector was transferred from the WAC to OfReg in May 2017, and all reviews and confirmations of calculations of the price adjustments for inflation and electricity costs are now performed by OfReg. If Cayman Water wants to adjust its prices for any reason other than inflation or electricity costs, Cayman Water has to request prior approval of the Cabinet of the Cayman Islands government. Disputes regarding price adjustments would be referred to arbitration.

The Cayman Islands government could ultimately offer a third party a license to service some or all of Cayman Water’s present service area. However, as set forth in the existing license, “

the Governor hereby agrees that upon the expiry of the term of this Licence or any extension thereof, he will not grant a licence or franchise to any other person or company for the processing, distribution, sale and supply of water within the Licence Area without having first offered such a licence or franchise to the Company on terms no less favourable than the terms offered to such other person or company.”

The Company is presently unable to determine what impact the resolution of its retail license negotiations will have on its cash flows, financial condition or results of operations but such resolution could result in a material reduction of the operating income and cash flows the Company has historically generated from its retail operations and could require the Company to record an impairment loss to reduce the carrying value of its goodwill. Such impairment loss could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s results of operations.

OC-Cayman

Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, OC-Cayman, the Company provides bulk water to the WAC, a government-owned utility and regulatory agency, under various agreements. The WAC in turn distributes that water to properties in Grand Cayman outside of Cayman Water’s retail license area.

The water OC-Cayman sells to the WAC is produced at three reverse osmosis seawater conversion plants in Grand Cayman owned by the WAC, but designed, built and operated by OC-Cayman: the North Sound, Red Gate and North Side Water Works plants. The current operating agreements for the North Sound, Red Gate and North Side Water Works plants expire in February 2019, February 2019, and June 2019, respectively.

The WAC has initiated a public bidding process for a new agreement encompassing both the North Sound and Red Gate plants, and the Company has submitted a bid for this agreement.

The Company generated total revenues of approximately $3.7 million and $7.2 million from these three plants during the six months ended June 30, 2018 and the year ended December 31, 2017, respectively.

If the Company does not obtain new bulk water supply agreements for these three plants, or if such new agreements are obtained on terms less favorable than the Company’s existing agreements, its results of operations and cash flows will be adversely affected.

CW-Belize

By Statutory Instrument No. 81 of 2009, the Minister of Public Utilities of the government of Belize published an order, the Public Utility Provider Class Declaration Order, 2009 (the “Order”), which as of May 1, 2009 designated CW-Belize as a public utility provider under the laws of Belize. With this designation, the Public Utilities Commission of Belize (the “PUC”) has the authority to set the rates charged by CW-Belize and to otherwise regulate its activities. On November 1, 2010, CW-Belize received a formal complaint from the PUC alleging that CW-Belize was operating without a license under the terms of the Water Industry Act. CW-Belize applied for this license in December 2010. On July 29, 2011, the PUC issued the San Pedro Public Water Supply Quality and Security Complaint Order (the “Second Order”) which among other things requires that (i) CW-Belize and its customer jointly make a submission to the responsible Minister requesting that the area surrounding CW-Belize’s seawater abstraction wells be designated a forest reserve or national park and be designated a Controlled Area under section 58 of the Water Industry Act; (ii) CW-Belize submit an operations manual for CW-Belize’s desalination plant to the PUC for approval; (iii) CW-Belize and its customer modify the water supply agreement between the parties to (a) include new water quality parameters included in the Order and (b) cap the current exclusive water supply arrangement in the agreement at a maximum of 450,000 gallons per day; (iv) CW-Belize keep a minimum number of replacement seawater RO membranes in stock at all times; and (v) CW-Belize take possession of and reimburse the PUC for certain equipment which the PUC purchased from a third-party in late 2010. CW-Belize has applied for declaratory judgment and has been granted a temporary injunction to stay the enforcement of the Second Order by the PUC until such time as the Belize courts could hear the matter. The initial hearing on this matter was conducted on October 30 and 31, 2012 with an additional hearing on November 29, 2012.

On December 8, 2017, CW-Belize received a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court of Belize stating that (i) the claims by the PUC in the Order and the Second Order were unlawful, null and void and of no effect; and (ii) stated that the PUC is prohibited from taking any steps or proceedings or making any further Order in respect of the said Order. However, on February 20, 2018, the PUC filed an appeal of this ruling with the Belize Court of Appeal, the results of which are pending. The Company is presently unable to determine what impact the resolution of this matter will have on its financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

CW-Bali

In October 2017, CW-Bali’s sole remaining customer filed a lawsuit in the district court of Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia against CW-Bali, CW-Bali’s President, and the Company’s Chief Financial Officer in his capacity as the President of CW-Bali’s Board of Commissioners (i.e. Directors) seeking compensatory damages of 57.1 billion rupiahs and punitive damages of 26 billion rupiahs as a result of the anticipated breach of this customer’s water supply agreement that will arise from CW-Bali’s planned cessation of operations. Such damages were equivalent to approximately $4.0 million and $1.8 million, respectively, based upon the exchange rate between the dollar and rupiah as of June 30, 2018. In April 2018, the Densapar court ruled that it had no authority to adjudicate the case due to a clause in the water supply agreement that requires all disputes to be handled through arbitration in Singapore. However, the customer immediately filed an appeal with respect to the Denpasar court ruling. The Company cannot presently determine the outcome of the appeal or what effect the resolution of this matter will have on its consolidated financial statements.