Pioneering an automation meter reading (AMR) solution from Diehl Metering, a Kenyan water service provider has been able to reduce non-revenue water, improved billing accuracy, and accelerated its reactivity to maintenance issues.
Eldoret Water and Sanitation (ELDOWAS) has been supplying water to Eldoret town in the Rift Valley of Kenya. The water company was looking to set new standards in customer satisfaction, but it first had to overcome a number of network problems. These include leaks, unreliable billing, and a non-revenue water rate of 42%, mainly due to fraud and theft.
To address these issues, the company worked with Diehl Metering and its local partner Eastern Africa DANCO to implement a pilot automatic meter reading (AMR) solution. This marks one of the first projects of its kind in Kenya, with the scope soon extended to include some 700 smart water meters. Through the solution, ELDOWAS can monitor its network more closely with data collected by the smart meters and automatically transferred for access via the IZAR Plus Portal software.
The impact of the AMR solution has been “striking”, Diehl Metering described. In the areas where AMR has been implemented, non-revenue water is around 6%, compared to 42% in other areas. ELDOWAS is also more reactive to maintenance needs with alarms for leaks and device anomalies, with most issues resolved within a week rather than months, as was the case previously. Furthermore, billing is more accurate, thus increasing customer satisfaction. The company has also benefitted from greater network efficiency while also saving water and therefore contributing to a more sustainable local economy.
