Mobile Application For Transmitting Water Meter Readings (A Case Of Thika Water And Sewerage Company)

Abstract

Many water meters can be read visually with little difficulty. Conventional meter reading do pose problems both for the customer and the water service provider in Kenya. In order to bill clients, attendants/meter readers are dispatched to manually read and record meter readings. There is usually large number of estimates due to locked gates over a given period of time. Because of the large number of clients, this is a time consuming exercise. Reading of meters increase or decrease the customer bill due to estimation. In addition to possible errors in meter reading, there is also the problem of manual data entry of the readings into provider‘s systems which can also lead to more errors. The overall objective for this study was to assess the strategies for reducing billing errors by discovering challenges in meter reading and designing an appropriate technique. The scope focused in identifying areas for improving water meter reading systems at THIWASCO. The target population was 28 employees (1 commercial Manager, 1 ICT officer, 16 meter readers and 10 billing clerk). Data was collected through obtaining relevant data from management information systems and questionnaires. The research confirmed that on average, there are 7% estimates based on gate locks, 10% estimates based on fault meters and 83% of readings are physically read. At the same time, in case of gate locks, the company has designed a self reading form where the customer does fill in consumption data and later drop, calls or SMS the billing office. At the same time, the study also revealed that, there are 26924 active meter connections and on average, a meter reader is required to physically read 61 connections each day. Therefore, a self-read mobile application was found to be instrumental where the customer / meter reader would be required to login using the registered account number. Once confirmed, the customer details would be displayed from the back end WSP server. Once displayed, the customer/meter reader would enter the current reading from meter. This consumption data is sent to the WSP for billing by click of a button via GSM. The customer bill is also available immediately and can pay through the pay bill button.