Zinwa introduces prepaid meters for institutions

Herald Reporter

THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority is rolling out prepaid water meters for local authorities, businesses, schools, Government departments, parastatals, mines and other institutions.

This will ensure that all water is paid for on time and gives these customers greater control over their water consumption.

Only critical Government institutions such as hospitals and security establishments will remain on the postpaid meters.

In a statement on Monday, Zinwa head corporate communications and marketing Mrs Marjorie Munyonga, said the move will help curb the further growth of their debtors’ book, which stands at ZiG464 187 774,28 as of August 31, since clients will now be paying for their water in advance.

As of August 31, local authorities accounted for ZiG23 305 415,23 in unpaid bills while Government ministries and departments were responsible for ZiG264 475 126,50. Businesses owed ZiG7 716 690,13, with schools accounting for ZiG6 707 106,18 and industry ZiG4 098 031,35.

“The roll out of prepaid water meters to these client categories is also in response to requests from some of the consumers to be placed on the prepaid system in place of the current postpaid one,” said Mrs Munyonga.

“Zinwa has already installed bulk prepaid water meters for Beitbridge Municipality following their request to be migrated to the prepaid metering system. To date, Zinwa has installed over 31 000 prepaid water meters, largely for domestic clients in Nyanga, Mutoko, Chivhu, Mvurwi, Murambinda, Gokwe, Guruve, Filabusi, Karoi and Hwange.”

Prepaid water meters were rolled out following the successful piloting of the system in Mvurwi and Chivhu since 2019.

Zinwa has also instituted stop order facilities for irrigating farmers, who owe the authority ZiG89 527 679,41. The farmers only pay at the end of the season when they sell their crops.

The stop order facilities allow the farmers to settle their water bills through their financiers when they sell their produce at the end of the season with no interest being levied during the season and the interest clock only starting seven days after the crop is paid for.