Northern Region Water Board admits overcharging customers
Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) has admitted overcharging some of its customers.
The admission follows complaints some affected customers raised at the water board’s head office at Kawiluwilu House in Mzuzu.
Juliet Banda from Katoto Township said she gets an average water bill of K5 000 per month and that she was shocked to receive a water bill of K24 000 for September.
“I stay alone. I go to work in the morning and come back in the evening. I have never left a tap running, neither do I have any leakage at home,” she said.
NRWB spokesperson Edward Nyirenda said the overbilling emanated from the migration to a new billing system.
“The issue is that we have migrated to a new billing system with the aim of improving the billing system.
“The main challenges include high bills for some customers as well as some customers being credited with amounts which they did not pay. But most have now been resolved,” he said.
On the new billing system, Nyirenda said the board is procuring 15 000 prepaid meters in phases under the Malawi NRWB Water Efficiency Project financed by the European Investment Bank. “We expect 8 000 meters—5 000 meters from the project and 3 000 metres from the water board’s own resources before end of November,” he said.
