‘City-wide prepaid smart water meters this month’

Innocent Ruwende Municipal Reporter

Harare City Council says it will roll out a city-wide prepaid smart meter installation programme this month. The move is meant to contain the city’s growing debtors’ list by ensuring residents pay for water consumption.Presenting the city’s $103 million 2017 Capital Budget, Finance and Development Committee chairperson, councillor Luckson Mukunguma, said smart meters were expected to mutually benefit council and stakeholders in a big way. “Your worship, the piloting of smart prepaid water meters is at its tail end.

“The pilot project has amply demonstrated the feasibility and viability of smart metering, paving way for the full implementation of the same and in this regard, the full roll-out of the project is set to commence in October 2016.

“In order to ensure that water is conserved and equitably distributed, at the same time empowering residents to manage their water consumption patterns, the city will soon roll out the prepaid smart meters installation,” he said.

He said the introduction of smart prepaid meters was encouraged and discouraged by residents in equal measure although the generality of stakeholders maintained that it was the sustainable way to go.

He said residents already on smart metering expressed satisfaction with the system because they were now managing their water consumption patterns.

Cllr Mukunguma said the rate at which debtors were growing in the city’s books was a cause for concern.

“When I presented the 2016 budget last year, I reported debtors at $380 million and as at August 31, 2015 and today, it is with a heavy heart that I advise that exactly 12 months later, as at August 2016, debtors have ballooned to $526 million while creditors who stood at $185 million as at August 31, 2015 have also gone up to $395 million.”

Council identified six suburbs — Bluffhill, Sunningdale, Kambuzuma, Greendale, Avenues and Avondale — for pilot installations which were used to analyse how smart water meters work.

Last year Government implored local authorities to install prepaid water meters, despite resistance from residents’ associations.Water meters have been a success story in Uganda, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia, among other countries.

Locally, they have turned around the fortunes of Zesa as customers only pay for what they use.