Hyderabad, July 07: Consumers should get prepared to shell out a few extra bucks as the metro water board has decided to outsource issuance and collection of monthly bills.
After experimenting with the system, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board has decided to extend it to all the divisions. Private agencies would be allowed to collect Rs 10 from each consumer for their services.
Water board officials told Expresso that tenders inviting bids for the contract would be called by July-end. It might take two-three months to finalise the service providers.
Under the system, a certain number of consumers (consumer account numbers or CANS) that can be managed by one meter reader are grouped into a `Docket’ and allotted to service providers.
The system was tried a few months ago by allotting one docket in each division to a private agency. “It has proved to be a success and we decided to replicate the same in all 16 O&M divisions of the water board,” officials said.
Each docket will have between 1000 and 1,500 CANS. The selected private agency will have to visit all these houses for taking readings, generating bills and collecting charges, including Rs 10 extra for the doorstep service. The agencies would be given Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) machines loaded with data of a docket.
The system would ensure prompt issuance of bills and increase in revenues in future, officials said.
As a precautionary measure, the selected private agencies would be asked to deposit initial amounts with the water board. For example, each agency has to deposit Rs 1 lakh for one
–Agencies