BWSSB to install new water meters free of cost

The BWSSB has taken a decision recently to replace meters which fulfil this age criterion free of cost in houses in the City.

The idea behind the move is to do away with complaints about erratic reading of the water consumed from consumers, said Venkatraju, Chief Engineer (CE), Maintenance, BWSSB. The validity of water meters is generally seven years. “This is for the first time we have decided to replace meters in the City,” he observed.
A total of 1.6 lakh meters will be replaced. “There are 5.2 lakh meters installed by the BWSSB for domestic purposes across the City,” he said. The meter costs Rs 850 and along with installation charges, it would be between Rs 950 and Rs 1,000 per house. This would cost the BWSSB around Rs 16 crore.

The 100 service stations run by BWSSB have already been provided with 100 meter sets each, so that the replacement could take place simultaneously across the City, he said. New meters can already be seen glistening in a few houses in Sanjay Nagar, M C Layout, Sadashiva Nagar, R P C Layout, R T Nagar and Vijayanagar. “Work on replacing meters has begun a fortnight ago,” Venkatraju said. There is no fixed deadline and it will be done in a phased manner.
 
“We would like to caution the common man that the replacement is being done free of cost. There is no need to pay the waterman or valveman any fee when he brings the new meter or installs it,” the CE stressed.
However, in case the replacement has to be done for any meter that has been damaged or tampered with by the occupants or others, they have to pay charges for the same.
Another initiative to address complaints on water consumption was the recent introduction of handheld billing machines to print bills at the residences in  Chikkalalbagh, Vijayanagar, HBR Layout, HRBR Layout, Banashankari, Yeshwanthpur, Malleswaram, Johnson Market and CLR. It is now being extended across the City.