National Water’s e-payment will ease bill clearing

National Water & Sewerage Corporation is in the process of phasing out its cash offices and has introduced the new e-water bills payment systems, these include paying over the counter at partnering banks, MTN & M-sente mobile money pay bill service, direct debit mandate and mobile banking options. However, branch offices remain open for other water related issues like customer complaints, reconnections, reporting leaks, bursts, no water cases, etc.

What is the difference between the old system and the new system?

The difference is that with the old system, all customers have to queue up at our cash offices to pay their bills, but with the new e-water systems, customers have a variety of options in which to pay their bills, e.g., using mobile money pay bill service payments can even be made past midnight, for banks with interface, transactions are reflected in the NWSC system immediately the customer pays and the customer’s account is credited within 24 hours. Through these systems, payment points for water bills are widely spread across all customer locations and as such, customers no longer need to travel all the way to National Water cash offices to pay their bills. So the new system is more convenient.

What is e- water payment?

e-water is the most convenient, efficient and easy way of paying water bills through

partnering banks, direct debit, mobile banking, mobile money and we are yet to introduce scratch cards. At the bank, the “e-water” payment system is a simplified interfaced payment method in which transactions made in the banks are immediately reflected on the NWSC system. This simply means a NWSC official is able to check with our system and know that a certain customer has paid through the bank.

How it works:

A customer presents his bill or customer reference no. to the teller and upon payment, receives a receipt and an instant SMS on his/her phone confirming the transaction from both the bank and National Water. The customers’ account is credited within 24 hours.

Some of the interfaced banks include Bank of Africa, Centenary, PostBank, Crane and DFCU bank. Other partnering banks have not yet interfaced but customers can still make their payments with them. These include Standard Chartered, Barclays, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Ecobank, National Bank of Commerce, Citibank, KCB, Equity, Diamond Trust and Global Trust Bank

How is it done?

The closure of cash offices is a phased approach, we have started with closing cash offices which have various neighbouring banks and customers have been advised to pay their bills through these banks or any other partnering banks nearest to them. Other payment options include signing direct debit mandate, mobile banking or use mobile money pay bill services. Cash offices in branches that don’t have banks neighbouring may not be closed soon until other payment options like scratch cards have been introduced.

Why did you change to the e-water payment yet NWSC cash offices were near people within a specific area?

Actually the banks are more widely spread across all locations compared to our cash offices, therefore our customers don’t need to travel all the way to our cash offices to pay their bills nor do they need to first withdraw money from the banks in order to pay bills but instead pay directly in the bank. And also, more channels of bill payment have been introduced like MTN & M-sente mobile money pay bill services, mobile banking and direct debit mandate. Through these payment channels customers can pay their water bills at anytime even on Sundays when our cash offices are closed.

The payment of bills in the bank is frustrating customers. What are you doing to solve this problem?

So far we have not received any major complaints from customers in the already closed territories because it’s not a new experience to pay in the bank; customers have already been paying through banks as a payment option. With the new e-water, the experience is different especially for banks with interface, no need to fill in deposit slips and you receive an instant notification SMS on your mobile phone confirming the transaction made and your NWSC account is credited within 24 hours.

The banks are also widely spread so you can go to any of the various partnering banks nearest to you or you can use any of the other payment options.

There are rumors that under the new system you have increased the water price per unit. What is your comment on this?

This is not true, all the water tariffs remain the same.

Within the new system comes instant billing and bills. Does that mean payment should also be instant or monthly like it has been?

Yes the payment is monthly like it has been only the payment system has been improved for convenience and ease of bill payment.

Briefly explain how mobile money water bill payment is done?

For MTN mobile money

1. You must be registered and should have mobile money on your phone.

2. Select Mobile Money from MTN Menu on your phone.

3. Under mobile Money select Pay bills.

4. Select NWSC.

5. Select region you belong to.

6. Type in your customer reference no and the amount you want to pay.

7. You will get 2 instant confirmation messages of the transaction.

For M-sente

1. Dial *500# from your UTL phone.
2. Type 5 to choose payments.
3. Type 2 to choose pay NWSC.
4. Type the number against the area you live in.
5. Type the customer ref number on your water bill.
6. Type in the amount of money you wish to pay and press YES/OK.

In case of water disconnection, we used to report to the cash offices branches for reconnection. What will happen with this system after disconnection and branch offices are closed?

Branch offices are not closed it’s only the cash points which are being phased out; eventually no branch office will be receiving payments. This means only services like reconnections, leaks, bursts, no-water cases or any other water related issues will be reported and handled at our water offices like it has been apart from payments.

Any other message to the public about this new system?

National Water seeks to ease the lives of our customers because to us he is king. We are slowly phasing out cash offices in a bid to concentrate on customer care and the provision of water which is our core business. This is why we are partnering with dynamic organizations like UTL, MTN and Banks to make water bill payment easier.

E-water is a real time bill payment solution that will go far in eliminating delays in updating customer accounts as well as the need to physically move to pay your bill or check your account balance. Paying water bills via e-water will be more convenient for our customers, now we have even rolled out spot billing system where NWSC officials take readings from your water meter and print out your bill on spot. We believe e-water will increase efficiency of paying for water and hence enable clients manage their water bill payments much easier.

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