Water bill can be paid while taking meter reading; modern palm-held machine coming soon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The water authority is planning to purchase palm-held machines that will enable consumers to pay drinking water bills using credit, debit and UPI systems while meter readers take readings. 1000 machines will be purchased for eight crores in the first phase. One company has been selected out of four companies that participated in the tender. The Election Commission's approval has been sought for the purchase of machines as there is an election code of conduct in place.

Including Jal Jeevan Mission, there are 346 permanent meter readers serving 42 lakh customers. 1100 Kudumbashree and 325 contract workers have been appointed for this purpose.

The water authority introduced the K-Self app in 2022 to pay the drinking water bill by taking the meter reading on a smartphone, but it got stuck due to technical issues. The K-Meter app for meter readers also failed.

Palm Held Machine

The KSEB-style billing machine was earlier used in the Pattoor division in the capital. It was only possible to pay the bill with this. The new machine is GPS-enabled so meter readers can map each water meter. The route from one meter to the next meter can also be known through GPS. Through this, accurate readings can be taken even if the meter readers are changed. Future disputes can also be avoided as the image of the meter will also be stored in the machine. The reading from the machine will also be recorded on the central server of the water authority in real-time.