Bulawayo inventor develops smart meter to tackle water billing challenges

DRIVEN by the need for sustainable water solutions in Bulawayo and beyond, Innocent Hadebe has created an innovative smart meter. The technology aims to address residents’ concerns about unfair billing and water availability for both residents and local authorities.

Hadebe, CEO of Bhungane Investments, describes the product as cutting-edge with robust security and user-friendly features. This could offer significant relief, particularly in Bulawayo, where residents face exorbitant water bills despite a strict 120-hour water shedding schedule that can sometimes extend beyond a week.

The city is experiencing one of its worst water shortages in recent years. The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has implemented a 120-hour water shedding schedule, which they are sometimes forced to abandon due to critically low reservoir levels. Residents have consistently questioned the fairness of high water bills despite limited water availability.

In an interview, Hadebe explained that the smart meter allows residents to monitor their water consumption while offering a solution for the council to efficiently collect revenue.

“Water solutions have always been dear to me and I started by drilling boreholes in Luveve with my non-profitable organisation, and we were just solving the issue of water shortages.

“Now as we get to learn more and people say even if water is there, the prices are so exorbitant, then I came up with a solution that I think we can collaborate with councils to make sure that from a sustainability and efficiency point of view we can work together,” he said.

“We have prepaid or smart meters that can help us get people to trust the integrity of the pricing that they get from city council, from the resident point of view we want integrity on pricing but also from the city council stand point it will help them with revenue collection.”

Hadebe explained that they have developed software integrated with the smart meter and the council’s system. This will allow for automated revenue collection from residents with outstanding bills.

Bulawayo residents have reported a significant increase in their water bills (up to four times higher) despite the inconsistent water supply. To make matters worse, the local authority has implemented water disconnections to recover unpaid bills.

The local authority blames residents for non-payment or underpayment, leading to debt accumulation. The smart prepaid water meter aims to address this by deducting a portion of each top-up payment towards outstanding bills.

Hadebe further highlighted that the smart meter allows residents to monitor their water usage in litres. Additionally, an optional mobile phone connection can provide real-time notifications about remaining water and potential top-up needs.

“So far, I have presented my project to the Bulawayo City Council, they loved the idea and they are in talks. There are also a lot of issues which we need to deal with, for example, the Government has a mandate to give people water for free and as we stand, there is a specific number of litres that one should get. So, we are working towards that to say if one buys water, they should use the free water first,” he said.

“We are hoping by the end of this year you will start to hear about this product somewhere in the Bulawayo suburbs as a pilot project.”

Speaking about this year’s ZITF theme, “Innovation: The Catalyst to Industrialisation and Trade,” Hadebe lauded young people’s potential, highlighting the abundance of amazing ideas just waiting for the right platform to be presented.

“Thanks to ZITF, they have allowed us to come and showcase this and if we look around, some of the exhibits here are so innovative.

“If we can take a fraction of what we have in terms of innovation right now and implement some of them you can start to see us turning that corner as an economy because we have so many intelligent people but we need to give them platforms and ZITF has helped us to start to talk about issues like water solutions,” said Hadebe. — @SikhulekelaniM1