The Assistant Undersecretary for the Customer Services Sector at the Ministry of Electricity and Water, Eng. Ahmed Al-Rashidi, confirmed that the ministry will continue to implement the process of smart transformation of its services, following many tracks, most notably the smart meters project that it started last October, in addition to providing various services through smart applications, most notably the ‘Easy’ application.
Al-Rashidi told Al-Qabas, the ministry has made a quantum leap in terms of collecting overdue bills from customers. He disclosed the ministry has collected 422 million dinars from the beginning of the current fiscal until February 17, which is an unprecedented sum of money, knowing that the estimated revenues for fiscal 2021-2022 were 5.7 million dinars.
While expressing the ministry’s dependence on the smart meters project for its importance in the transformation plan for the era of smart services, he stressed it is moving at a steady pace to replace mechanical meters with smart meters and what was installed in Salmiya and Hawalli is about 83,000 meters and the ministry is expected to continue installing smart meters in some new private housing areas early next March.
Rashidi pointed out that customer service centers in Salmiya, Mishref, and Hawalli receive clients from investment and commercial sectors who wish to replace their meters, and their working hours have been extended until nine in the evening.
He said that the process of converting to pre-payment goes through different stages: the first is the installation of the smart meter, and the second is the payment of outstanding dues during the pre-installation period that customers are called to pay immediately upon installation, and those who do not respond are issued warning letters, and finally the service is cut off if they do not respond to two warnings.
Al-Rashidi pointed out that the second smart meter tender, which includes 500,000 electricity meters and 200,000 water meters, is currently in the inquiry process, and the responses will be transferred to the Central Tenders Committee, followed by submitting offers and starting the supervisory procedures prior to awarding the contract.
He pointed out the coming period will witness the provision of services through the “Sahel Business” for companies, which includes the provision of 17 services, and companies and institutions will have to identify delegates to deal with the ministry, with the availability of updating the delegates’ data on a timely basis.
4 Difficulties in installing meters
1 – Absence of guards or persons responsible for the property
2 – Placing the meters in hard-to-reach electrical rooms
3 – Excesses in loads that exceed the plans
4 – Collecting outstanding bills
3 ways to top up the balance
1 – The Ministry’s application MEW-pay
2 – The Ministry’s website
3 – Visit the customer service offices