DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATED REVENUE COMPUTATION SOFTWARE FOR WATER CORPORATION

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATED REVENUE COMPUTATION SOFTWARE FOR WATER CORPORATION

Background of the study

The water industry is confronted by changing drivers in the sustainable management of urban water. External factors, including the impacts of climate change, drought, population growth and consolidation in urban centres [1] have all been increasing the onus on water service providers to adopt more sustainable approaches to urban water management as the era of cheap water fades [7]. Covering costs, monitoring non-revenue water and meeting customer demands for equity in billing in the face of rising water prices are some of the core challenges [8]. While financial sustainability remains critical, the accompanying challenge to achieve sustainable urban water management (SUWM) has also become a goal of strategic planning for water utilities. Indeed, many water service providers have been gradually evolving from their traditional supply oriented role as providers of water to embrace a variety of demand management strategies towards more sustainable urban water management [10] including the use of distributed and decentralised systems [11]. Measures that have been implemented to manage water demand include metering, water accounting and loss control, pricing and education. However, the success of these strategies critically requires accurate, adequate and reliable data that can be meaningfully and cost-effectively interpreted to help utilities improve customer services, reduce water losses and manage demand [12]. Add to this public discourse that suggests resource consumption and management is not only the responsibility of industry and governments, but also the responsibility of the individual, and the need for improved information at the consumer level becomes apparent [14]. To promote individual responsibility (whilst noting that context, culture and water-use habits are also important), residential customers in particular need access to timely, relevant and comprehensible information that can assist daily decision-making processes around resource use [9,15]. Whilst recent developments in mobile computing and telecommunications (e.g., smartphones, 4G networks) are improving this situation, the usefulness of this feedback is ultimately constrained by the frequency and resolution of data generated at the source, in this case, water meters. Enter intelligent water metering (IM) which offers the potential to transform urban water management. IM enables the determination, in real-time or near real-time, of water consumption, and provides the possibility to read consumption both locally and remotely. Both in Australia and internationally, the discourse and the use of IM technology are being shaped by the interests of a number of key social, economic and political actors, with water service providers, consumers, technology vendors and regulators, in particular, contributing to the development agenda.

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATED REVENUE COMPUTATION SOFTWARE FOR WATER CORPORATION

Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email

Number of Pages: 72

Price: 3000 NGN

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