Lower water rates for 500,000 households
30/05/2007 The Star Stories and photos by Salina Khalid

ALMOST half a million high-rise residential unit owners in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya can enjoy lower water tariff rate if they migrate from the bulk to individual water meter.

Selangor Infrastructure and Public Utilities Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Fatah Iskandar said as of April 24 this year, there were a total of 1,309 bulk meter accounts from condominiums and apartments within Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya and another 1,056 bulk meter accounts from low-cost flats.

“If all of these bulk meter accounts were to migrate then we will have a total of 420,000 new individual meter accounts in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

“And all of these residents staying at apartments, condominium and low-cost flats will be paying the same water rate as other residential types (landed),” said Fatah.

Changing to individual water meter will allow flats, apartment and condominium owners to pay only 57 sen per cubic metre instead of RM1.38 per cubic metre for apartments and condominiums and 80 sen per cubic metre for low-cost flats that they now pay.


Giving the low-down: Syabas executive director Thien Kwee Sim giving a briefing on the newly released guidelines for migration from bulk water meter accounts to individual metering for high-rise residential units at the Selangor State Secretariat Building in Shah Alam on Monday.
They will also be charged a minimum bill of RM6 per month instead of the current RM35 under the bulk metering system.

However consumers will also be billed according to their individual water consumption.

Under the individual meter rate, consumers will be charged RM1.30 for usage above 20 cubic metres and RM2 per cubic metre for consumption above 35 cubic metres.

He added that those living in high-rise residential buildings like apartments, condominiums and flats were paying the same rate as commercial users all this while.

“We (the Selangor state government) have been receiving complaints from these residents for many years.

“Some of them complained that their bill was higher than those staying in bungalow lots,” he said.

He said the accounts for the bulk meter were under the name of the management corporations (MCs) or the developers, so the rates were based on commercial rates.

Water is supplied to the residential premises through a bulk meter.

The water supply is then diverted to individual sub-meters for the residents’ individual unit.

A bulk water bill is sent to the management company, who in turn will charge the units for the amount of water used.

Problems arise when some of the residents fail to settle their water bills over a period of time, causing arrears to accumulate over the years.

Sometimes it leads to the termination of water supply to the whole building, causing anger to those who have paid bills on time.

“The MC cannot touch their water meter or cut the supply if they adopt the individual meter,” said Fatah.

He added although application for the migration could only be applied by the MCs, residents could put pressure on them if they want the individual meters.

He said Syabas and the Selangor Water Monitoring Department (JKAS) could help disseminate information about the migration by organising talks with the residents.