Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) has installed 8000 prepaid meters in its supply areas in its first phase of the project which commenced in December 2019 to June 2020.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) Thursday in Karonga, NRWB Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Engineer, Titus Mtegha said the board was pleased that customers have welcomed the initiative.

“We are migrating from post-paid to prepaid system as one way of responding to our customers’ needs in line with improved technology,” he said.

Mtegha said 5,000 and 3,000 meters have been installed in Mzuzu and other supply areas like Karonga through NRWB Water Efficiency Project which was financed by European Investment Bank.

“Phase two of the project commences in August, 2020. Under this phase, we are going to install 10, 000 additional prepaid meters in Mzuzu because the demand for such meters was high.

“We are planning to procure 9,000 meters to be installed in schemes outside Mzuzu once we have the resources,” the CEO stated.

He said the board’s plan was to have all its customers on prepaid meter billing before 2025.

“I hope we are taking the right direction. Customers are able to monitor their water consumption. There is a transformed drive in efficient water and finance utilisation,” Mtegha said.

One of the residents in Karonga, Penjani Mwakasungula hailed the board for introducing the prepaid billing meters saying they are efficient and cost effective compared to the post-paid ones.

He said customers in past used to complain about their water bills as in most cases the customers felt they were being duped.

NRWB has a customer base of over 60,000 connections serving a population of over 400,000 people in urban and peri-urban areas in northern region.

Source: MANA