GWCL customers embrace E-payment system
More customers of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Accra West Region are embracing the paperless system introduced by the company about a year ago.
Currently, 82,953 customers in the region who have provided their mobile phone numbers and e-mails to the company receive electronic bills in addition to the printed water bills.
It has enabled them to make payments of bills on various mobile money platforms, even from the comfort of their homes, instead of going to the various payment points.
The Accra West Regional Communications Manager of GWCL, Mrs Solace Akomeah, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that the system was in the transition stage and very soon the paper bills would be phased out
She, therefore, urged customers who were yet to be hooked on to the electronic system to provide their details to the company.
The Accra West Region has a total of 105,715 customers and it is only those who have provided their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses to the company who are receiving electronic bills in addition to the paper bills.
The rest receive only paper bills.
"So far, there is a difference of about 10,000 customers whose phone or email numbers we don't have," she said but added that "we are using GPS to locate them since very soon the use of paper will completely phase out. "
The system
In July 2017, the GWCL rolled out the paperless billing and payment policy in some of its offices in the country to tackle delays in the system.
Under the E-billing/E-payment system, the GWCL sends water bills to customers through text messages and e-mails only.
With the introduction of the electronic system, meter readers from the company go round to take a photo of the reading on the customer's meter after which the system automatically calculates the customer's bill.
So far, 68 per cent of the GPS validated accounts in the region are with phone numbers.
Region impressed
Mrs Akomeah said the regional office was impressed with the way the policy was catching up well with customers.
"There has been a steady rise in the payment of bills since the introduction of the E-payment," she said, but did not provide figures .
She indicated that the company also had customers application “that gives customers access to their accounts.”
Distribution
On the distribution of water, the Accra West communications manager said they were extending supply lines to areas such as Kasoa, Nyanyano and Asofa.
"We're bringing water from the Nsawam plant to augment what we have at Weija to boost distribution," she added.
