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Namibia: Council Embarks On Meter Reading Exercise
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New Era (Windhoek)
22 April 2008
Posted to the web 22 April 2008
Windhoek
The Windhoek City Council has embarked on an exercise to read a number of electricity and water meters that are being estimated at present.
Estimation of municipal water and electricity consumption, which is done in many local authorities, is the taking of an average of actual consumption of three consecutive months of clients whose meters could not be read and used to determine the monthly amount billed to particular clients.
"The many reasons necessitating such estimation include the following:
uncommitted self-readers who do not submit their readings regularly to the City, unreadable meters, refused entry by clients to their properties, vicious dogs in property yards, meters that are removed due to non-payment, locked gates of properties, untraceable meters, damaged meters, and changed locks, among others," said the City of Windhoek.
It added that the estimation of municipal water and electricity does not automatically mean that the city is "robbing" ratepayers.
"This is because all the estimated readings are ultimately reconciled with the next actual readings, and if the difference is positive, the ratepayer's account is credited with the relevant amount," the City of Windhoek explained.
It said while it is "ideal and appropriate" that all meters should be read to avoid estimations, the number of properties whose water and electricity consumption are estimated due to the stated reasons are "not overwhelmingly significant".
It said there are about 70000 registered meters and that an average of 85 to 89 percent - or 623000 meters - are read on a monthly basis.
The City of Windhoek said it had considered embarking upon a three-month - April to June - pilot project to read a maximum number of meters currently being estimated.
This means that the meter readers will take readings after hours, as well as on Saturdays and Sundays.
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The officials will identify themselves appropriately with City of Windhoek identification cards.
Depending on the outcome of this exercise, the City of Windhoek said it would determine the way forward regarding the reading of meters, times and cycles for both water and electricity meters.
It requested that all self-readers submit their readings regularly between the 20th and 31st of each month.
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