NJUWASA installs prepaid water meters

NJOMBE: NJOMBE Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (NJUWASA) has started installing prepaid water meters for customers in Mji Mwema, Ramadhani and Njombe wards as part of efforts to improve revenue collection and reduce water losses.

The project involves the installation of 100 prepaid water meters at a cost of 55m/-, aimed at enhancing billing efficiency and ensuring more sustainable water service delivery.

The initiative is expected to reduce water losses by 26 per cent, lower operational costs and help the authority recover accumulated unpaid water bills.

In the 2026/27 financial year, NJUWASA plans to install a total of 600 prepaid water meters across its service areas.

The authority’s Director General, Eng Robert Lupoja, revealed this on Tuesday during the launch of the prepaid water meter installation exercise in Njombe.

Eng Lupoja said the prepaid system would enable the authority to recover outstanding debts while improving revenue collection and reducing water losses. He said the system would also help customers manage their water consumption and avoid accumulating unpaid bills.

“As of the end of this month, we had outstanding debts of more than 291m/-. Once we begin connecting customers to the prepaid meters, we expect the system to help us recover the outstanding amount,” he said.

Eng Lupoja said another benefit of the prepaid system is its potential to reduce water losses, which remain a challenge for water utilities.

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Explaining how the meters work, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expert Erasto Mwalongo said customers will pay for water using a control number and immediately receive the service after payment.

He said the system will also reduce inconveniences and complaints associated with water billing. Njombe District Commissioner Juma Sweda commended NJUWASA for adopting the digital system and urged the authority to speed up the installation of the meters.

He said the system will help address complaints from customers who are sometimes billed for water they have not consumed, while also urging residents to protect water sources.

“In the past, many residents complained that they were being charged more for water. But this system will eliminate that because the amount of money you pay is the amount you use,” he said.

Mr Sweda said controlling water losses through the new meters will enable the authority to generate sufficient funds to purchase additional equipment.

“If we control water losses in our areas by using these gadgets, there will be enough money to acquire the machines that we need to purchase in large numbers,” he said.

The introduction of prepaid water meters has also been welcomed by Njombe residents, who said the system would eliminate the inconvenience of receiving bills for services they had not used.

One resident said the previous billing system sometimes made it difficult for customers to determine whether their bills reflected actual water consumption.

“In the past, we used to complain that bills had been generated for us, although sometimes the amount reflected the actual consumption. With this system, once the credit runs out, you simply make another payment to restore the service,” the resident said.