Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:39:00 +0000
By Buumba Chimbulu
VERIFICATION of water prepaid meters to ensure that they read correctly in an effort to protect the consumers will soon be commenced by the Zambia Weights and Measures Agency (ZWMA).
ZWMA Director of Operations, Humphrey Nkobeni, said they were making arrangements to engage the water utility companies through the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) to work together in this exercise.
“The area we are moving into is the area of consumer protection in regards to water prepaid meters, we are soon going to start verifying water meters to see if they are reading correctly,” he said.
Mr. Nkobeni said in an interview that the agency was likely to start with the verification next month. “So we will be looking at the new meters that are coming into the country and those that are already in the country to ensure that they are reading correctly and that the consumers pay for what they use, we are just mobilising ourselves now, maybe by next month we will start.”
He also said ZWMA was currently conducting a countrywide inspection and verification exercise of trade scales used by grain buyers to protect farmers from being exploited following the opening of the 2017 maize marketing season by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) recently.
Mr. Nkobeni said it was illegal to carry out any form of trade in the country using unverified trade instruments.
