CHENNAI: Bulk consumers, such as multi-storey buildings, commercial establishments and others, who use drinking water supplied by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Metro Water) extensively, will soon be mandated to pay for the water they use, as the ‘water manager’ plans to complete installation of AMR (automated meter reading) smart water meters within 2 years.
A senior Metro Water official said a few bids have been received for installing the meters, and they are under evaluation. “Metro Water will install such smart meters in 1 lakh bulk-consuming buildings. Once installed, charges will be collected from the buildings based on the quantity of the usage,” the official explained.
Since the project will be implemented under a public-private partnership model, Metro Water will bear 60% of the estimated budget of `5 crore. The potential vendor, who secures the bid, must spend 40% of the project cost.
Metro Water will directly collect the user charges from the owners of the huge buildings and pay the share of the vendors periodically, the official explained.
In 2019, the ‘water manager’ had commenced installing smart meters in buildings of bulk consumers, fixing nearly 20,000 meters on a pilot basis. Since, the meters are mandated under World Bank assisted Chennai City Partnership Programme, the Metro Water adopted a policy for metering in November 2022.
The policy stipulates Metro Water should install water consumption meters for all the consumers having water connections in a phased and progressive manner, commencing with high water consumption and high revenue categories and all non-residential and new consumers.
Metro Water had a target of covering all the bulk consumers by 2023, and 80% of the domestic connections (smaller residential buildings) by 2027. But, the project was delayed due to administrative reasons.
Metro Water has fixed charges between `126 to `205 per kilolitre of water for private hospitals and `90 to `176 for industrial buildings. For private educational institutions, `104 per kilolitre will be charged.