Council installs prepaid water meters

Innocent Ruwende Municipal Reporter
Residents in areas where Harare City Council is rolling out a pilot project to install prepaid water meters have embraced the programme but are cautious of the costs, saying they have started self-rationing.

Council has started installing the meters in Sunningdale while other suburbs including Bluffhill, Kambuzuma, Greendale, Avenues and Avondale will be used as pilots to analyse how smart water meters work.

City officials and contractors yesterday toured Sunningdale to ascertain how residents were receiving the programme. A resident Ms Stella Chisvo said their meter was installed last Friday hence she could not tell whether the prepaid system was cheaper or not.

“We have had the meter for two days. It is working well. We bought 12 000 litres for $10. We are still to see the difference.

“We live here as three families. We used to pay $70 per month, so we are still to gauge if this method is cheaper. We are now conserving water just like we do with our electricity,” she said.

Ms Susan Kasese said she did not know much about the prepaid system and will only know after a month.

“We welcome the project. It is going to make us conserve water but we can only compare it with the old system at the end of the month,” she said.

Mrs Florence Zichawo said they had embraced the project.

“The meter was installed on Monday and we were given 3 000 litres and currently we are left with 2 800. We can only tell the difference after a month,” she said.

Mr James Mutete said the meters would enable residents to plan accordingly.

“You only pay for what you use. It is an advantage to us but it is too early to determine if the system is cheaper,” he said.

The city’s acting corporate communications manager Mr Michael Chideme said the city was happy that residents were embracing the pre-paid water system.

“We have started installing pre-paid water meters with one of the companies Tricon already on the ground. We are happy with the response we got from residents. The benefits are mutual, residents will be able to manage their water.

“For the city everyone pays for their water and we will be able to re-invest in water infrastructure,” he said.