Billing and Collection: Initiatives by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Documented by - Rohit Nadkarni

Billing and Collection:

Initiatives by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board

Rohit Nadkarni

Administrative Staff College of India Bella Vista, Hyderabad – 500 082, Andhra Pradesh, India

Billing and Collection: An Initiative by BWSSB

ABSTRACT The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) in order to improve its

billing and collection function of the water board has undertaken initiatives to

computerize all its sub-division as regards to generation of bills / accounting / revenue

monitoring including demand collection balance statement and connecting the sub-

division computers through a Local Area Network and connecting all the sub-division to

the central computer section in the head office through Wide Area Network. To improve

the collection efficiency, BWSSB has installed 74 Kiosks with Automated Cash Collection

Machines at important locations, to facilitate the public for remittance of the water bills

without having to wait in long queues since these machines are operating on a 24/7

basis. Apart from KOISK, which facilitate 85% of the payments, there are also other

services like Electronic Clearance Service (ECS), Bangalore-One and Bill Junction where

payments can be made. Due to this initiative, the whole billing and collection process

has become more efficient and effective, and has led to reduction in time taken for each

bill transaction. This document presents the process and experiences of the BWSSB in

implementing the new billing and collection system. It also present the lessons learnt

over the period of time through this initiatives and its replicability in other Indian cities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This documentation is a part of the good practices documentation process, undertaken

by the Urban Governance Area at Administrative Staff College of India. We are grateful

to Smt. G. Lata Krishna Rao, IAS, Chairman, BWSSB, for extending valuable support and

facilitating data collection, discussions with the key officials etc at BWSSB. We also

thankful to the following officials of BWSSB for their cooperation in data collection and

facilitating the discussions held at BWSSB. However, the usual disclaimer applies.

• Shri. C. V. Prasad, ICAS, FA & CAO

• Shri. T. Venkataraju, Chief Engineer, Maintenance

• Shri. R. Vasudevan, Asst. Chief Engineer

• Shri. G. M. Shivaraju, Executive Engineer, WAC

• Shri. D.S. Raghavendra, Accounts Officer, Revenue

• Shri. A. N. Prahlada Rao, PRO

• Shri. B. G. Bhagavan, Accounts Superintendent, Revenue

Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI)



Introduction

Bangalore, the Capital of Karnataka State and Industrial Center of Southern India has

witnessed rapid increase in population, particularly during the last five decades. In 1941,

Bangalore was ranked sixteenth largest city in India by virtue of its population.

Bangalore as per 2001 census, with a population of 62.24 lakhs, is the fifth largest city,

out of the Metropolises of India. Bangalore Urban Agglomeration alone accounts for

29.70% or one third of the total urban population in the state. With a decadal growth of

50.70% during 1991-2001 Bangalore has attained the status of third fastest growing

city in the country.

The Bangalore city population in phase with

the industrial and IT infrastructure

development has grown from 4.1 to 6.2

million, in the last decade, thereby

increasing the requirements for supply of

drinking water and sewage treatment and

disposal. To provide clean and safe water

to ever increasing population of this city is

gigantic task and this unenviable task

along with providing sewerage facilities to

the sprawling city was entrusted to the

Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board

on 2nd October 1964. Since then the Board

has been striving hard to discharge its

duties satisfactorily, despite of several

constraints. There are five primary

functions of the Board (refer Annexure 1), among which the levy and collection of water

charges on “no loss no profit” basis is an important function, and this helps the board to

financially sustain the other primary functions.

Billing and Collection Achieving financial sustainability in a water utility is currently an increasingly important

goal, as government and donor agencies are stressing on cost recovery. There are three

different types of costs typically associated with water supply: 1) Infrastructure costs –

the cost of actually providing the infrastructure to run water upto and through

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neighbourhoods; 2) Connection costs – the cost of connecting an individual household to

the system; and 3) Operation and maintenance (O&M) costs – the cost of actually

operating and maintaining the system. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal

Mission reforms lays emphasis on recovering the Operation and maintenance cost in

water supply through user charges.

To recover the operation and maintenance cost, one requires an efficient system of

billing and collection, which ensure timely serving of demand notice and collection of

billed amount from customers, thereby enabling efficient cash recycling and cost

recovery. An effective and efficient billing and collection system should have the

following:

• Metered water connection

• An updated computerized database

• Efficient meter reading and reporting system

• Timely raising of bills for the water dues

• Establishing clear cut time schedules between the raising of bills, serving it to the

consumers and payment by them

• Make it easy for willing consumers to pay at convenient collection centers /

mediums

• Accounting for daily collections and their remittances

• Clear accounting of dues of consumers

• Minimizing the cost of collection

• Paying adequate attention to disputed cases and follow–up defaulters

•

•

The reform Initiative

In India, Bangalore is the only city where all the water supply connections were always

metered. BWSSB has five divisions and 20 sub-divisions and there are bout 5.2 lakh

serviced water connections. BWSSB has pioneered the adoption of latest technologies

including Information Technology over the last six years and completed many major



projects with significant IT content. Some of the reform initiatives taken up for

Improving the Billing and Collection system are given below:

• Computerization of revenue billing records and computerized bills on a monthly

basis from July 2001 onwards

• Development of new software for financial accounting. All maintenance sub-

divisions are computerized as regards to generations of Bills/ Accounting/

Revenue Monitoring etc. D.C.B Statements are also computerized and all the

offices have been networked.

• Payment of Water Bill through unmanned ‘KIOSK’ working 24 x 7 hours,

Electronic Clearance System, B-1 (Bangalore-One) and Bill Junction.

• Water Adalat to settle the billing disputes

Situation Before the Initiative Before July 2001, the BWSSB were practicing the manual revenue billing system, and a

lot of time was lost in processing and transferring the records value into books / bills.

The manual billing system mainly led to long standing queues at the cash counters and

consequently delay in collection.

Revenue Billing Process Before July 2001

Meter Reader goes to the household level and gets

the meter reading

Meter Reading entered in respective sub-divisions ledger

Pain points: - Takes more time for

processing, transferring and reflection of recorded values into ledger / bill books

- Manual billing is laborious and end up in errors

- The meter reader has to make a second trip to deliver the bill

The bills collected are entered in the ledger

books of the sub-divisions manually

All the revenue collection is manually reflected and updated in the revenue department of BWSSB

Ledger clerk checks the arrears, bill amount is calculated and manual written bill produced

Pain points: - Errors in reporting of meter reading

Bills delivered to customers by the meter reader



The manual process involved the meter reader to collect the meter reading, report the

meter reading to the respctive sub-division, entering the reading in respective ledger

books, checking of arrears, calculating the bill amount, preparartion of bills and

delivering to the consumers. If there were any errors in billing the consumer use to

report to the respective sub-division. The bill payment was also a time consuming

process both for the consumer as well as for the Board, it involved bill payment at

respective sub-division standing in long queues. It was equally time consuming to the

Board as the bill collection were manually updated in the ledger / bill books of the sub-

division.

Disadvantages of the System

• Takes more time for processing, tranferring and reflection of recorded values into

ledger / bill books

• Manual billing is laborious and ends up in errors

• manual payment mode ends up in long standing queues at the cash counters and

hence delayed in collections

Introduction of Reform Initiative

Computerization of Revenue Billing Records

The BWSSB adopted the latest technology available and undertook computerization of it

revenue-billing system. This process was started with computerizing revenue records

and extending computerized revenue billing in the sub-divisions. The board took up this

initiative at a cost of Rs. 266.50 lakhs in 2000-2001 and procured computers, server,

generators, UPS & printers (out of the total cost Rs. 27.93 lakhs was spent towards

software installation data entry, training etc.). Upon completion of the computerization

process, the board started issuing computerized revenue bills from July 2001.

Bill checked and corrected manually

Revenue Billing Process After July 2001

Meter Reader goes to the consumer

and gets the meter reading

Meter Reading entered in respective sub-divisions computers

Consumer goes to the respective subdivision cash counter and pays the bill (the payment record is updated on

If error in billing the consumer files a complaint to the

respective sub-division (Water Adalat)

Bill records checked &

corrected in

The bills collected are uploaded manually in sub-

divisions server & the revenue

working hour of the sub-division cash counter to pay the bill

Pain points:- Data to be sent to from all sub-

division to head office for updating the revenue record and possibility of errors while manually updating the records

Pain points:

- Requires a lot of man power and also possibility of error while manually updating the ledger books

Computer calculates the bills, bill printed



The computerization bought in efficiency in the billing and collection system. After the

meter reader get the meter reading, the meter reading was directly feed into the

computer in their respective subdivision. Each consumer was given a unique Revenue

Record Number (R.R Number) for reference, the computers were programmed to

calculate and generate the bill, based on the arrears and the tariff structure. The bills

were printed and were delivered to the consumer. In case of any errors in the bills the

consumer had to complain to respective sub-division Water Adalat and the bills were

checked and corrected against the computer database and decision was announced.

There were fifty-six cash counter (about 2-3 counters per sub-division), which were also

computerized, and the bill payments made at the counters were directly entered on the

computer and the receipt was generated / printed. The bill collection data from the cash

counters were later manually updated on to the sub-division and the revenue

department servers. In 2001-02 BWSSB also enabled a service for making payments

through internet (on line payment) for the benefit of the consumers.

Drawback of the system

• Even after the computerization the consumers had to stand in long queues at the

cash counters for their bill payment and hence delayed collection

• The bill collection data had to be manaully uploaded in the servers

Networking and Software Development

Networking

Prior to the reform initiative, BWSSB has six maintenance Divisions, twenty Sub-

divisions and fifty-six cash counters. After the computerization of the revenue billing

system, the errors in the billing record were minimized, but to keep the records up to

date the BWSSB has to manually upload the billing collection data in the sub-division

server and than the records were again manually uploaded in the revenue department

server of BWSSB.

In 2001, Studies on creating an on-line network, LAN-WAN, in BWSSB were taken up

and an Local Area Network within all the offices in Cauvery Bhavan and Wide Area

Network connecting Cauvery Bhavan with all Maintenance Divisions and Sub-Divisions

Meter reader delivers bill to the customer



was proposed. Subsequently the LAN and WAN was setup and all the divisions and sub-

divisions are now connected to Cauvery Bhavan (BWSSB Central Office) by leased lines

with ISDN lines as back up. This now facilitates transfers and real time update of data

pertaining to revenue billing and collection and making it accessible in Central Office to

all the officers at any point of time. The Network also facilitates electronic movement of

files, circulars and other data pertaining to office operations.

Software Development

The Setup of the LAN and WAN is only the hardware component, to run financial

accounting system and to be able to manage the revenue collection data on real time

basis required customized software for operation. The Development of new software for

financial accounting was entrusted to M/S National Informatics Center (A Government of

India Undertaking). The development of financial accounting package was completed

and was implemented on April 2005. This new software for financial accounting, helped

to monitor the entire revenue collection process and all the maintenance sub-divisions

were computerized as regards to generations of Bills, accounting and revenue

monitoring. This software generated a computerized Demand Collection Balance

statement and also helped to track down defaulter (the software also generates a list of

top 100 defaulter and allow any officer to check revenue records of any consumer).

Currently entire billing system is computerized and all the offices have been networked.

Payment of Water Bill

The current computerized Revenue Billing System generates a computer-generated bill

with a bar code. This bar code contains the billed amount and the Revenue Record

Number (R.R. Number) for identification, the bill payment can be made through

unmanned ‘KIOSK’ working 24 x 7 hours, Electronic Clearance Service, B-1 (Bangalore-

One) or Bill Junction (Share of payments made through each mode is given below).

% Share of Payments Made Through Different Modes



85%

3%12%

Bill Payment Thorugh Koisk Electronic Clearance Service Bangalore One

Automated Machine ‘KIOSK’ working 24 x 7 hours (Kaveri E-com)

The Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board is running 24 x 7 hours Automated

Machines for bill payment (KIOSK). In the 1st phase (from march 2004 onwards) 50

KIOSK were installed, subsequently in the second phase (from march 2005 onwards)

another 25 KIOSk were setup. Currently there are 75 KOISK units running in Bangalore.

This KIOSK was supplied and maintained on a six years contract by M/S Tata

Consultancy Services (Formerly Tata Infotech Ltd.). The Automated payment kiosk can

receives water bill payment and generates receipt for cash, cheque and Demand Draft

(DD) payment made.

The Payment Process

The Automated Machines for bill payment allows consumers to pay their bills at any time

at various locations in the city. These machines are easy to use and work just like a

bank ATM by processing bill payment transactions. The Automated Machines Unit at the

KOISK comes with a bar code scanner to scan the bar coded bills, so no hassles of

entering the bill details. The touch screen guides a user through the payment process

and directs the consumer to make appropriate payment as per the billed amount, either

in cash, Cheque or DD. The automatic machine has different slot for cash payment and

Cheque and DD payment, the cash payment slot has a scanner that checks the currency

note while the payment is being made and than the machines prints a receipt verifying

the transaction.

The Automated Machines allow consumers to pay their bills conveniently without any

extra cost. The Automated machines give the user greater flexibility and control when



paying bills as well as increased security and privacy during the transaction process. The

cost per Automated Machine with a 6-year maintenance contract comes to approx. Rs.

5.75 lakhs. The total cost borne by BWSSB per transaction is about Rs. 2.5/-. The

Automated machine offers 24-hour service of safety, convenience and comfort. The

Automated machine is designed to allow total security, offers great flexibility as to its

installation area and operating hours. Cash counters having cash counter operators have

made way for Automated Machines, hence reduction in staff and cost saving. Like any

other ATM’s, this automated machine requires only a security guard which here is

employed by BWSSB and trained to operate the machine if the consumer need any

support.

The Back-End Process

Currently this KOISK are stand-by units, the networking cost for getting the machine

networked with the sub-division and the main server is very high (One Lakh Rs. / Unit)

and hence are not networked. On a daily basis, one personnel of the Bank and the

personnel from BWSSB (The KOISK location are distributed as per Sub-division and the

respective BWSSB sub-division personnel are responsible for accompanying the bank

personnel), visits the KOISK. Upon a command prompt the Automated Machine

generates a Day-End report, which is taken on a pen-drive by the BWWSB official, the

bank personnel counts the currency and collects the Cheque and Demand Draft and a

report is prepared and signed by both the personnel. Further the BWSSB sub-division

personnel takes the Day-End report to the respective sub-divisions and upload it. If the

bill payments made at the kiosk belong to the same sub-division it is automatically

uploaded in the sub-division server. Bill payments of other sub-division are automatically

transferred to the central BWWSB server and from there it is automatically updated in

the respective sub-division server.

The Automated Machine in the KOISK The BWSSB KOISK


Touch Screen

Cheque / Demand

Draft Slot

Cash Deposit

Slot

Bar Code Reader

Receipt Slot


Advantage

• Any time payment (24/7)

• No more standing in long queues

• Substantial reduction in processing time

Drawback of the System

• The KIOSKs are not networked, hence time is lost in collecting the data from the

Automatic Machine and uploading it in the Sub-division servers

• There were some instances of fake currency being feed in the automatic machine

• Since the Machines are not network, there is always a threat of losing all the data

and record of bill payment in the automatic machine if the hard disk in the

machine crashes. There have been such instances in the past. (This problem can

be overcome by networking the machine or installing a secondary back-up Hard

Disk in the machines).

• The company who supplied the machine quoted low and now they are facing

problem in maintaining the machine (The Machine has a lots of moving part,

which are worn-out over a period of use and need replacement)

ECS (Electronic Clearing Service)

BWSSB has also initiated a new Electronic Clearance Service for payment of water bills.

As on June 2007, BWSSB has about 14,873 consumers using this service. To avail this

service the consumer has to fill a mandate form (refer Annexure 2) mandating to pay

the monthly water bills through the bank account. This form has to be duly signed by

the banker. The Consumers can avail this service from any bank in Bangalore. In this

system BWSSB sends the monthly bill to the Reverse Bank of India (RBI) to recover the

billed amount electronically from the respective consumer bank account. The bank will

electronically debit the bill amount only on the Pay-by-date, and the payment is



reflected in the pass book entry of the customer as a proof of payment and the customer

will also continue to get bills as usual, for the information / records. To reduce errors in

billing, BWSSB checks the bill amount for all the consumer billed above Rs 2000/-,

before sending the data to RBI. RBI levies a service charge of Rs. two per transaction

made under this service, which is borne by BWSSB. The very few numbers of consumer

availing the service, show that the people of Bangalore are still not comfortable giving

mandate to BWSSB to make payment through its bank account (there may be a element

of doubt of being billed extra and deducting the bill amount from the bank without their

consent).

Advantage of the service

• No extra cost payable to either the bank or to BWSSB

• No traveling to the Kiosk

• No risk in carrying money

• No standing in long queues

• No debiting of money from the bank before “pay-by-date”. Thus allowing time for

any clarification one may required

Drawbacks in the ECS system

• Cases reported by RBI -rejected payment due to insufficient balance

B-1 (Bangalore-One) Service

The Government of Karnataka (GoK) is providing an integrated service to the citizens

deploying the tools of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) so as to

enhance Speed, Convenience, Certainty and Accountability in providing such services

through the concept of a 'One-Stop-Shop' facility. Accordingly, GoK have implemented

an e-Governance project called the Bangalore One or B1 Project (A computerized online

payment / service KOISK) on the lines of similar projects implemented elsewhere in

India (Like E-Seva in Andhra Pradesh). On a total there are about 16 B-1 centers in

Bangalore.

The BWSSB consumer can visit any of the centers get the water bill details as well as

pay the bills. The consumer can make the bill payment through cash, cheque or Demand

Draft at these centres. This service is directly connected to the BWSSB server and can

retrieve the statement of accounts data for the past six months excluding the current

month, for a particular account identified by the RR number. The bills payment made at

the Bangalore-One is directly updated in the BWSSB server. This service is similar to the



BWSSB cash counters, apart from bill payment one can avail other BWSSB service as

well as other services provided by other Government department at the center. The

customer can also make online payments through the Bangalore-One portal service

(www.bangaloreone.gov.in), where the payments are done through credit cards. Upon

payments through Bangalore-One, a receipt will be generated for each of such

successful transactions specifying the unique Transaction ID of Bangalore-One and other

bill details. During the month of May 2007, there were about 61,204 transaction made

through the Bangalore-One service.

Advantage of the service

• No extra cost payable to Bangalore-One or to BWSSB

• No standing in long queues, one can make payment on-line

Drawbacks in the ECS system

• Cases reported of Cheque payment being dishonored

Bill Junction

Tech Process Solutions Ltd. (formerly known as Bill Junction Payments Ltd.) network

companies of ICICI venture is an electronic bill presentment & payment company. Tech

Process offers online bill payment through its electronic service product Bill Junction. Bill

Junction is a dedicated service for single point contact for all bill payment needs. Bill

Junction also provides the Bangalore consumer with service of making its BWSSB bill

payment thought its service. Bill Junction charge a one-time registration fee of Rs. 50/-

and provide bill pay packages at a service charge, the service charge per bill is approx.

Rs. 11/- per transaction which is quite high compared to the other services. The bill

Junction makes payment through the electronic transfer through the bank account of the

customer. The current number of BWSSB Consumer availing the service is negligible.

Bill Junction moves bills from the desk to the desktop and ensures that one can pay your

bills in minutes instead of hours. The Bill Junctions has a tie up with BWSSB, where all

the data relating to bill amount is supplied to them. Once the consumer sign into Bill

Junction he can view the entire bill details and make advice for payment of bills. The Bill

junction also sends e-mail and SMS reminders to costumer, informing them about the

due bill, and hence enables timely payment. After bill payment, Bill Junction provides

BWSSB with data / records of payment made (the format for data provision is provided

by BWSSB) and the billed amount. The BWSSB further uploads this data on its server.


http://www.bangaloreone.gov.in/


Advantages of Bill Junction

• No traveling to the Kiosk

• No risk in carrying money

• No standing in long queues

• Bill Junction keeps the customer Informed about of the bills and act as per

customer advice

Drawback of the system

• High Transaction cost

• The BWSSB server are not directly accessible to Bill Junction, hence data has to be

manually transferred

The Current Billing Collection Scenario

Summary of the Current Revenue Billing System

Current Revenue Billing Process

Meter Reader goes to the consumer

and gets the meter reading

Meter Reading entered in respective sub-divisions computers, the computer calculates the bills, bill is printed and

delivered to the customer

If error in billing the consumer files a complaint to the

respective sub-division (Water Adalat)

Bill records checked & corrected in the computer

Consumer Has Four Payment Options Available

Automated Machine KOISK

Electronic Clearing Service

Bangalore-One Bill junction

Consumer visits the KOISK and Makes payment and receives a

receipt of transaction (Security personnel

Available to guide in making payments)

Consumer Mandates BWSSB

to recover payment through RBI from his Bank

Account. (Payments made is reflected in the Bank Pass Book)

Consumer visits the Bangalore-One centers or makes payment On-line through its portal

and receives a receipt of

transaction

Bill Junction had tie-up with BWSSB.

Consumer Mandates Bill

Junction to make payments on his behalf to BWSSB.

(Bill Junction provides receipt of

payment)

The Bill Payment records are

collected manually from the KOISK

and then uploaded in the respective

sub-division servers and is automatically

uploaded in the

Upon receipt of payments from RBI the records

are automatically uploaded in the

main and the sub-division servers

The Bangalore-One server is

directly connected to the main

BWSSB server so payments are

directly automatically

uploaded in the main server and

Bill Junction manually supplies data of Payments to BWSSB. The data is manually

uploaded at BWSSB Main

server and further automatically

u


ploaded in the


Water Adalat

Water Adalats are grievance redress meetings started by BWSSB in 2001. These Water

Adalats are convened once a month on a designated day at the Sub-Divisional office and

chaired by the concerned Executive Engineer. There are 20 Sub-Divisional offices, hence

in a month there are 20 water Adalats. Details of Adalats are announced in the BWSSB

website and in the newspapers. This Adalats are used to resolve disputes related to

billing or any other disputes related to water supply and Under Ground Drainage, non

receipt of bill, irregular meter reading etc. If the consumer is not satisfied with the

decision of Assistant Engineer, Executive Engineer or Water Adalat particularly relating

to billing disputes, the consumer can lodge a written complaint with the Chief Engineer

(Maintenance), Appeals Committee at Cauvry Bhavan, (Head office of BWSSB)

Bangalore

Revenue collection

Water as a resource might be a free good, but supplying safe water at the doorstep has

a cost and one of the main functions of the board is to levy and collection of water

charges on “No loss profit basis” (In other word recover the cost incurred in supplying

this water at the doorsteps). The water tariff and sanitation charges are the main source

of revenue for BWSSB, to sustain the organisation and to perform its other functions

(refer annexure 1 for other function). BWSSB is the only water board in India, which

recovers more than 90% of the revenue expenditure and has current demand collection

efficiency more 90% (if one excludes the arrears component).

Demand Collection Efficiency of BWSSB over seven-year period.

The current demand collection efficiency is above 90% (excluding arrears), and this is

reflected through the past seven years data available on demand collection at BWSSB.

After the implementation of the 1st phase of the Automated Machine KOISK in march

2004, the current demand collection efficiency has substantially increased to 98.21%

2004-05 (refer table below). Even after the current demand collection being so high the

to total demand collection efficiency including the arrears is as low as 60%, this is

mainly due to the arrears amount which are due the non payments from stand post unit.

Every year with the interest rate of 20%, this amount keep on accumulating and leading

to very low total demand collection efficiency.



Collection Efficiency of BWSSB

Year Total Demand Collection Efficiency

in % (Including Arrears)

Current Demand Collection Efficiency

in % (Excluding Arrears)

Initiative taken

1999-00 60.90 89.46 Before the Initiative 2000-01 64.60 97.78 Computerization of ledger initiated 2001-02 61.80 91.35 Water Adalat started and July 2001

issue of computerized billing 2002-03 62.82 91.83 On-line payment facility started 2003-04 59.22 90.60 2004-05 63.59 98.21 All Sub-division computerized and

networked, Implementation of 1st phase of KOISK, Electronic Clearance Service (ECS) for bill payments by BWSSB

2005-06 60.35 94.46 Implementation of the new financial package. Payment of bill can be made from Bangalore-One, Bill Junction

2006-07 NA 95.28 Source: Calculated using the data from Annual Performance Reports

BWSSB Revenue and Expenditure

BWSSB is currently recovering more than 110% of the revenue expenditure and is

always in surplus, the table below reflects this. In the table below, the revenue receipt

includes water revenue, prorata charges, non-recurring revenue and miscellaneous

revenue colleted in divisions, while the expenditure includes treatment of water

(establishment, power charges and repairs & maintenance) and distribution of water

sewerage management (establishment, power charges, repairs & maintenance, Cost of

general administration and depreciation). If the revenue expenditure component given

below is treated as the operation and maintenance cost, than BWSSB is recovering more

than 110% of the expenditure, which is a healthy sign for an organisation

Annual Revenue Expenditure Recovered Over Past 6 Years

Revenue Account (Rs. in Lakhs)

Year Revenue Receipt Revenue

Expenditure (-) Deficit, (+)

Surplus % of Expenditure

Recovered 2000-01 29,677.75 26,832.46 2,845.29 110.602001-02 25,866.60 22,758.06 3,108.54 113.662002-03 36,869.83 25,739.38 11,130.45 143.242003-04 42,016.81 30,341.80 11,675.01 138.482004-05 37,683.05 32,635.87 5,047.18 115.472005-06 42,546.35 34,135.51 8,410.84 124.64Source: Annual Performance Reports



As per the annual financial statement (Budget) publish in the Annual Performance

Report; BWSSB was in deficits in their revenue receipts & expenditure statement. Till

2005-06 according to the statement, BWSSB was recovering more than 95% of its

expenditure and in the last annual report publish in the year 5005-06; BWSSB is in

surplus (refer table below). In the table given below, the revenue receipt head includes

water supply receipts (Water supply & sewerage, Misc. receipts from consumers, other

receipts), sewerage receipts and general receipts (general receipts, Less capitalized

Prorata 50%) and the Revenue expenditure includes (water supply & sewerage

operation & maintenance, Debt servicing, depreciation reserves, general administration)

and investments (GIS fund, Sinking fund for redemption of debenture and depreciation

reserves). Currently the BWSSB revenue account is in surplus and is recovering more

than 100% of its expenditure incurred in operation and maintenance including

depreciation and dept servicing. BWSSB is one of the best financially performing water

Board in India. BWSSB always had a high collection efficiency and recovery in the

previous years even before they introduced the reform initiatives, this is mainly because

Bangalore was the only city in India, which were metering water supply right from the

early days of supplying water to the city.

Annual Revenue Expenditure Recovered over past 6 years

Revenue Receipts and Expenditure Account (Rs. in Lakhs)

Year Revenue Receipt Revenue Expenditure(-) Deficit, (+)

Surplus % of Expenditure

Recovered 2000-01 29,815.78 30,030.32 -214.54 99.292001-02 26,775.12 28,213.59 -1,438.47 94.902002-03 36,869.83 37,383.71 -513.88 98.632003-04 43,210.38 43,479.06 -268.68 99.382004-05 38,509.87 38,676.45 -166.58 99.572005-06 42,147.00 41,498.27 648.73 101.56Source: Annual Performance Reports

BWSSB Website

The success of reform initiative depended on the communication strategy adopted.

BWSSB has setup an official website for its consumer for timely dissemination of

information and for making consumer aware of its reform initiative. The website gives

timely information to the consumer about the reform initiative, the payment option

available and the user charges. The website also allow consumer to file on-line complain

about the services.



Other Initiative Proposed to Strengthen the Collection Process

Meter reading with Hand Held Computer and issue of Bill at the spot

At present, the Meter Readers are taking the meter reading and recording the readings

in the cards manually. The computerized bills are being prepared in the concerned sub-

Divisions and issued to the consumers personally by the Meter Readers. In order to

avoid delay and prevent the errors in recording the readings, recently spot billing with

hand held computers was used in one sub-divisional area on a trial basis. This system

has following advantages:

Meter Reader need not make two trips as being done now once for reading and again for

delivering bill, one visit is enough. Transfer of data i.e., meter reading feed into Sub-

Division server manually by ledger clerks. These results in human errors, with hand held

computers uploading of data from hand held computer to Sub-Division PC happens by

plugging in, hence errors are avoided. Implementation of this initiative will increase the

accuracy of meter reading and efficiency of the meter reader.

Lessons learnt and Replicability The major cause for lack of financial performance by any water utility / Board of any city

in India is that the water supply connection are never metered, and if you cannot count,

you cannot account. Bangalore is one of the few utility to have metered connection from

the very start, because of this Bangalore citizens knew right from day one of getting the

water supply connection, that every drop used is going to be accounted in their monthly

bills. Over the period of time Bangalore citizens has understood the fact that water

supply at one’s door step is not free, and majority of the consumers were paying their

bills on time. So BWSSB decided to undertake reforms initiatives to improve the billing

and collection system, reducing the transaction cost and making the payment process

more customer friendly and convenient. For BWSSB reducing costs and time spent was a

step-by-step process, adding new technology was really the final step. BWSSB reform

initiatives in billing and collection till date have increased the efficiency of the institution

(in terms of time spent and collection achieved).

The BWSSB’s own reforms initiative for improving the collection, like the KIOSK model,

the electronic clearance service (ECS) are working very efficiently and there is still a

possibilities for further improving the system, BWSSB is looking into this aspects (like



networking the KOISK and making the ECS system more popular). The level of service

and the confidence level of the consumers, have also benefit the Board as many

consumers make advance payments for water supply to BWSSB (the advance is

adjusted as per the billed amount). The billing collection system adopted by BWSSB can

be easily replicated in other cities across India, which are already metering their water

supply connections. The Automated Machine KOISK system can either be operated by

Board / Utility or can be Outsourced to already exiting KOISK like BESCOM KOISK in

Bangalore (For Outsourcing to BESCOM the Transaction cost offer to BWSSB was almost

doubled the current cost incurred by BWSSB KOISK). Other Utilities in India can follow a

similar step-by-step approach followed by BWSSB in billing & collection system and can

adopt or customize the system based on local needs. If the current water supply system

of any cities need to be sustained, the water utility / board has to recover at least

operation and the maintenance cost incurred in supplying the water at the doorstep and

recovery will directly depends on an effective and efficient billing and collection system.



Bibliography BWSSB Reports BWSSB, (2003), Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board: Handbook of Statistics 1999-00,2001-01,2001-02,2002-03. Cauvery Bhavan, Bangalore. BWSSB, (2001), Annual Performance Report 2000-2001: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Cauvery Bhavan, Bangalore. BWSSB, (2002), Annual Performance Report 2001-2002: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Cauvery Bhavan, Bangalore. BWSSB, (2005), Annual Performance Report 2004-2005: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Cauvery Bhavan, Bangalore. BWSSB, (2006), Annual Performance Report 2005-2006: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Cauvery Bhavan, Bangalore. Internet Resources AUSAID, (2000), Bangalore Water Supply And Environmental Sanitation Masterplan Project, Australia-India Development Co-operation Programme, Accessed from: http://www.developmentgateway.com.au/bangalore/htm/master.htm BWSSB, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board official website, Accessed from: http://www.bwssb.org JnNURM, (2006), City Development Plan Bangalore, Accessed from: www.bmponline.org/Bruhat%20Bangalore/cdp.shtml JnNURM, Memorandum of Agreement ‘Urban Reform Agenda’, Accessed from: www.Jnnurm.nic.in Government of Karnataka, Bangalore-One, Accessed from: http://www.bangaloreone.gov.in/ Teach Process Solutions Ltd., Bill Junction, Accessed from: http://www.billjunction.com


http://www.developmentgateway.com.au/bangalore/htm/master.htm

http://www.bmponline.org/Bruhat%20Bangalore/cdp.shtml

http://www.bangaloreone.gov.in/


Annexure 1

Functions of the Board

The primary functions of the Board are:

1. Providing Water supply and making arrangements for the sewerage and disposal

of sewerage in the existing and developing regions of Bangalore Metropolitan

Area.

2. Investigating adequacy of water supply for domestic purpose in Bangalore

Metropolitan area.

3. Preparation and implementation of plans and schemes for supply of water for

domestic’s purpose within Bangalore Metropolitan area to the required standards.

4. Preparation and implementation of plans and schemes for proper sewerage and

disposal of sewerage of the Bangalore Metropolitan area.

5. Levy and collection of water charges on “no loss no profit” basis.



Annexure 2



Annexure 3

Total Number of Water Connections

S. No. Year

Total Number of Connections at the end

of the year

Percentage Increase in the number of

connections per year 1 1989-90 215140 4.5 2 1990-91 223817 4.0 3 1991-92 230907 3.2 4 1992-93 237212 2.7 5 1993-94 243491 2.6 6 1994-95 250326 2.7 7 1995-96 254865 1.8 8 1996-97 262639 3.0 9 1997-98 274655 4.4 10 1998-99 285883 3.9 11 1999-00 307416 7.0 12 2001-02 322448 4.7 13 2001-02 334805 3.7 14 2002-03 351161 4.7 15 2003-04 372002 5.9 16 2004-05 415652 11.7 17 2005-06 448802 8.0 18 2006-07 520546 16.0

Source: Annual Performance Reports (Note: The Annual data given above from 2003-04 onwards is

the number of connection as on month of July)




Annexure 4

DCB Statement and Collection Efficiency 1999-2000 Rs. In Lakhs

Opening Balance Demand Total Collection Write Off

Closing Balance

% Total Collection

% Current Demand Collection

9,774.18 20,843.74 30,617.92 18,646.19 762.72 11,971.73 60.90 89.46

2000-2001 Rs. In Lakhs


Closing Balance

% Total Collection


11,041.18 21,493.00 32,534.18 21,016.59 525.53 10,992.06 64.60 97.78



Closing Balance

% Total Collection


10,990.03 22,989.05 33,979.08 20,999.52 200.84 12,778.72 61.80 91.35



Closing Balance

% Total Collection


13,220.28 29,653.86 42,874.14 26,934.73 405.97 15,533.45 62.82 90.83



Closing Balance

% Total Collection


17,290.93 32,628.89 49,919.83 29,561.27 167.10 20,191.46 59.22 90.60



Closing Balance

% Total Collection


17,940.46 32,957.68 50,898.14 32,366.27 41,692.43 -23,160.56 63.59 98.21



Closing Balance

% Total Collection


20,432.05 36,149.52 56,581.58 34,146.25 368.31 22,067.02 60.35 94.46



Closing Balance

% Total Collection


270,349.97 41,651.71 311,696.67 39,683.90 305.01 271,707.76 12.73 95.28Source: Annual Performance Reports, Revenue Account Department of BWSSB

Documents

Billing and Collection: Initiatives by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Documented by - Rohit Nadkarni