EWA won’t charge customers for replacing meters: Minister

Nobody will be charged for the replacement of electro-mechanical meters with smart meters, the Electricity and Water Authority has confirmed. The Minister of Electricity and Water, Wael Al Mubarak in a statement revealed that citizens and residents will not be charged for having the meter replaced in favour of smart meters.

Responding to the concerns of some that the public would be charged the amount needed to replace the meters along with their power bills, the minister confirmed that this wouldn’t be the case, stating that everyone will have the service free of charge.  The Kingdom is on its course to replace the old meters with the new smart meters in Bahrain’s homes by the end of next year, it was revealed.

The initiative by the  Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) aims to place as many as 300,000 new smart meters in homes by next year, replacing the older inefficient meters.   According to the authorities, the new water meters will not only help improve bill automation but is also expected to contribute to reducing water loss, and allowing residents and citizens to better monitor their water consumption. The new meters are also said to have less maintenance costs associated with it.

According to EWA sources, there are currently 140,000 smart meters installed in the Kingdom. The new smart meters planned will increase the number to 410,000, more than double the current number of meters.  The EWA in a recent statement denied false and incorrect information that was raised about inaccuracy of smart meters.  The authority stressed that the smart meters have many advantages for subscribers. 

“They are the most accurate meters in order to monitor the actual consumption automatically and without human intervention.” The authority affirmed that smart meters used in the Kingdom are selected according to high international standards, after all required tests and trials before installing it to the customer, other than routine tests for each meter. “Smart meters are the safest to protect the subscriber’s devices by recording any malfunction of electricity through the automated system, in addition to the facility to disconnect electricity when there are overloads, which protects the subscriber from danger.

“In addition, in future, smart  meters will help customers monitor their electricity and  water consumption through  smart applications, where the subscriber will be able to identify the devices that consume the most electricity in his home, especially since the majority of electrical devices now adopt  the smart system,” the statement said.