At the helm of growing Kampala water business in the Kampala Western Zone, is the remarkable Senior Manager, Ms. Hellen Ejang. Her history in the field collecting revenue, marketing the NWSC business and supervising field staff, is something to write home about. As the Senior Manager, Ms. Ejang pays forward by not only over-seeing the commercial activities in the zone but also guiding and encouraging her various teams, she and her teams are gravely commercially challenged by Non-Revenue Water (NRW) and the onus is on them to resolve it.
One of the biggest contributors to NRW in the zone happens to be “Accumulation of Arrears”, something noted by Ms. Ejang which is why she organized a commercial workshop with the aim of tackling factors that contribute to Non-Revenue water (NRW) in the Kampala Water Western Zone which witnessed all Commercial Officers (Cos) from the Western Zone’s branches and sub-branches rendezvous at the corporation’s International resource center (IREC) in Bugolobi to confer on how best they can handle the situation.
Note that the accumulation of arrears impact on Kampala Water’s financial sustainability resulting in reduced investment in infrastructure and maintenance activities, which can ultimately contribute to NRW. The accumulated arrears can also; compel Illegal connections. When customers are unable or unwilling to pay their water bills, they may resort to illegal connections, a factor of NRW.
Currently, NRW in the Kampala Water region is estimated at 35.6%, a drop from January’s 42% but still a big percentage that costs the region billions monthly, and the WEZ Cos are ready for war.
In her remarks, Ms Ejang revealed that the zone is facing a challenge of accumulated cases of arrears both on suppressed and active accounts thus causing the corporation to lose money. She added that this is due to remissness and some staff who connive with customers for illegal reconnections among others.
“Don’t sit in office and write reports, hit the field and follow up on these escalating arrears in our zone,” she urged.
Ms. Ejang further insisted that the COs work hard towards limiting commercial losses like water theft among others so as to increase their sales and fight NRW.
The Legal Officer attached to the KW-Western Zone, Ms. Pamela Emily Niwasiima noted that the legal department issued 4,594 demand notices to customers with gigantic arrears and through the same approach, they expect to reduce arrears in the zone.
The WEZ team comprehends that the need to come up with new strategies in the fight against NRW is essential because it has a significant impact on the financial viability and sustainability of KW. To effectively battle NRW, one must develop new and innovative strategies that address the root causes and some of those discussed during the meeting other than reduction of arrears include but are not limited to; Timely leak detection and repair, Pressure management, Asset management thus regular maintenance and replacement of infrastructure, customer engagement, Accurate metering and billing, and Advanced metering infrastructure that is in the pipeline as discussed at the KW partners’ meeting on 7th March 2023.
