High water bills to be a thing of the past
Water Utilities Corporation’s (WUC)’s estimation orthodox billing method has always burdened customers with high water bills but that will soon come to an end, the corporation announced this week.
WUC has revealed that from October 1 going forward, it is eliminating metre reading estimations. For years, WUC’s customer service standard has been low due to complaints from clients about wrong billings among many others. WUC’s main excuse for estimated bills has been the fact that their employees are unable to access clients’ locked homes. According to WUC, a card for the consumer was usually left for the latter to fill in and submit their metre readings to WUC but that has not always been the case for everyone. Unable to access people’s homes to get correct readings, WUC billing system has been estimating customer’s consumption and bills generated based on the estimated average consumption of three months.
“No single plot will be billed on account of estimation because this tends to result in metre readings exceptions that are very difficult to manage and ultimately consequential high bills,” WUC Chief Executive Officer, Gaselemogwe Senai told the media in a press conference on Wednesday at the Gaborone Dam. Senai said they realised that the high bills Batswana had been complaining about had to be resolved.
He revealed that non-genuine debts run into couple of millions. “We deal with them every day because most of our queries are non-genuine debts,” he highlighted. Currently domestic customers’ debt stands at over P780 million. Senai said they believe that Batswana will be happy with the solution. As they bill people, he indicated that the important things are the customer’s feedback.
“Last year, our customer service was rated at 33% so it is an indicator that people are not happy with our service especially arising from high bill queries. Out of concern of our dwindling standards in customer service, we decided to implement a customer experience transformation programme and it is part of our digital transformation,” he highlighted.
Senai has indicated that despite changes in tariffs, most of the high bills at WUC are caused by high estimation. He said the current tariff remains extremely affordable regardless of the high bills people are complaining about. “In terms of tariffs, all citizens in the country pays uniform tariff regardless of where they are in the country. It is only fair for everyone to enjoy the same level of service standard”.
Senai said lack of access into people’s plots forced them into estimation, which eventually led to high bills. He said they will be implementing a proof of concept to hopefully convince Batswana that their preferred solution of smart water metering will benefit them more. “WUC acknowledges that water is a basic need but looking at our structure, we have made sure that the basic consumption is very affordable.
The smart water metering will operate more like electricity and if one hasn’t paid, it will be disconnected. People will adjust eventually,” he said. Senai however said people should always pay in time to avoid disconnections. He said constant disconnections will decrease the lifespan of the meter.
WUC will install smart metres as part of efforts to suppress rising concerns over its uncertain estimation billing system. The smart metres are expected to help in resolving the piling billing disputes. WUC is concerned that their revenue did not grow despite their assets growing by 33%. Now the new system is expected to reduce waste, improve billing and cash flow for the corporation, detect leaks and improve operational process inefficiencies. The smart metres are tailored to manage, monitor and enable users to pay their water bills in flexible terms through a digital platform.