Chennai water supply and sewerage board’s meter policy to promote conservation: Official

The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board aims to achieve 100 per cent metering of all high-rise and commercial connections in 2023, and 80 per cent of domestic connections (G+2 and below buildings) by 2027.

The board’s Metering Policy 2022 aims to promote water conservation by encouraging efficient water use; reduce ‘non-revenue’ water and increase cost recovery; and ensure fairness and equity to all consumers in charging for water services. It has also set out roles and responsibilities for both the board and consumers in the installation of metered connections and maintenance of the water meters.

Currently, there is a wide variation in hours of supply, pressure and tariffs in Chennai, besides little metering, unlike in cities such as Delhi and Bengaluru. Though meters are generally thought of as devices to improve revenue, they serve a much bigger purpose, said Raja Gopal Sunkara, Executive Director, CMWSS Board, in a social media post.

“They are the eyes and ears of the utility i.e. they give accurate feedback about service levels provided to consumers. They also provide data regarding water loss, which is important for a water resource scarce city like Chennai. CMWSSB has adopted a metering policy as a progressive measure,” he said in the post.

The policy document details the types of consumers for metering, selection of meters, its specification and installation guidelines.

Meters will be installed for all consumers in phases, commencing with high-revenue categories and all non-residential and new consumers. The meters will be owned by the board and consumers will be levied a fixed rental charge for them.

CMWSS is tasked with providing water supply and sewerage services to Chennai city, which is spread across 426 sq. km., with a population of over 9 million.

The board’s investments in desalination plants and tertiary sewage treatment facilities have led to the high cost of water production.

At the end of September 2022, the board was providing drinking water through 770,292 property service connections, of which 746,194 connections were unmetered and 24,095 metered. Of the unmetered connections, 670,652 belonged to domestic customers, 54,140 to partly commercial customers; and 214,042 to commercial and institutional customers.

The board has installed 11,387 mechanical meters and 12,708 mechanical meters with automatic meter reading (AMR) attachments for commercial and high-volume consumers under smart city funding. In all it has installed 24,095 meters, which is 3.12 per cent of the total. The AMR meters installed from November 2019 led to revenue generation of ₹57 crore during 2021-22

The water meter policy will be reviewed at least once in three years or when found necessary by the board’s technical committee, says the document.

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