Utility Systems Prepaid Water Meter

The WMD can be configured to

Dispense between 10 – 50 000 litres of water, at two scheduled times daily, thereby providing the ability to limit a consumer to a finite (or negotiated) level of supply. This is especially useful in the case of low income consumers who may never be able to afford to pay for water, but nonetheless have the right to recieve a basic level of service

Be linked to a fixed (flat rate) tariff to provide consumers with the option to voluntarily limit consumption according to their budget. As with the free basic water allocation, this facilitates budgeting not only by the individual consumer, but by social service agencies, government departments, and NGOs

Provide meter readings by radio signal or the global system for mobile communications (GSM) to a drive-by or walk-by collector, or through a fixed network
Operate at a reduced daily or monthly quantity; this is very useful in managing problematic customers

Benefits to the service provider

Low cost of acquisition
Prevents wastage and loss of treated potable water
Capital recovery possible within months by curbing water wastage
Battery life: approximately 10 years dependant on use, with replaceable battery pack Mounting can be vertical or horizontal
Above or below ground installation
IP68 waterproof rating
Radio Frequency 433 MHz
Operating range at ambient temperatures from -10◦C to 60◦C
Accurate water balancing across a zone using synchronised meter readings, in-field programming, testing, and interrogation
Radio link receiver can be fixed, vehicle mounted or carried by personnel
No proprietary billing system required – current billing systems can be used as data collected from the meter by means of the mobile data collector (MDC), which can be seamlessly integrated into most existing utility and municipal billing systems

Benefits to the consumer

Consumers can budget their daily or monthly consumption through prepayment and/or a capped daily and/or monthly allowance
Consumers cannot over use or over spend if they are on flow-limitation or prepaid options Daily or monthly carry-over where service providers allow it

Accumulation of un-used daily allowance, which encourages responsible water usage