Unfair meter readings for water bills?: Prepaid Water Meters finally roll out starting in Harare

To say there has been discrepancies on water bills by councils would be an understatement with a lot of inconsistencies and unfair bills often attributed to guess work, as they had to send people to physically do meter readings. Well we don’t need to point out the flaws in this method as sometimes those sent might not be able to actually have readings for each and every household given in some homes there would be no one during the day and several other reasons. As we did with electricity, water bills have finally joined the club starting with Harare. The City of Harare, in partnership with Helcraw Water Pvt Ltd and Laison Technologies, has begun installing prepaid water meters, a move aimed at improving efficiency and promoting fair billing for residents.

While some maybe be skeptical at first just like they did with the Zesa prepaid meter system, this will he no different, it’s a system that will improve on accuracy, efficiency and promote fair billing to otherwise those who had been at a disadvantage of being billed from imaginary readings. The first phase of the project was launched on Thursday, 23 October 2025, at No. 178 Birdcage Walk Flats, marking the official start of the rollout.

So how does this system work?

As I have mentioned before prepaid water billing system works similarly to prepaid electricity. Customers pay for water in advance, receive a token or credit, which then can enter on their meters and the smart water meter allows water flow only until that credit is used up.

Once credit runs out, the meter automatically shuts off the water supply and the user has to buy a token to recharge the credit and services will resume when new credit is loaded. This eliminates the need for monthly billing, manual meter readings, and debt recovery issues. It also improves efficiency and accuracy in readings.

Architectural Models

The system will use one of 2 architectural models or a hybrid system depending on the technology available and the capabilities of the providers, so let’s take a quick glance at the 2 options.

Offline token model (classic)

Payment → vending server generates a numeric token (typically 16–20+ digits) → user types token into meter keypad (or receives token via SMS & meter reads it via IR/NFC) → meter validates token locally (no network needed).

Pros: This system will work without meter network and is typically cheaper to implement and maintain.

Cons: The system is not entirely immune to token theft/replay risks, poorer remote visibility given the obvious loopholes of not being able to monitor the system remotely.

Online/top-up model (modern AMI)

Payment → server pushes credit over cellular/LoRaWAN to meter → meter updates balance instantly and reports usage.

Pros: This model allows instant updates, remote control, usage analytics.

Cons: The system requires network connectivity and is more expensive to implement.

The other way is to use both systems but it would be more complex, Hybrid will support both systems and there would be token fallback when network is down.

According to the local authority, 22 households at Birdcage Walk will benefit under this phase, while 28 prepaid meters are also being installed at Calder Gardens.Speaking at the launch, Helcraw Water Pvt Ltd Chief Executive Officer Brandon Jere said the prepaid system will help promote responsible water usage, reduce losses, and ensure residents only pay for what they consume.

Laison Technologies Vice President Clark Dai said his company is providing technical expertise and support during the installation process.

Some citizens welcomed the development, citing the flaws in the old system pointing out that the old billing system had caused friction between paying and non-paying residents. He said prepaid meters would encourage accountability and ensure a more reliable water supply.

Also present were members of the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) and Zimbabwe National Organisation of Associations and Residents Trusts (ZNOART), including national chairman Shalvar
The City of Harare said it remains committed to improving water service delivery and urged residents to keep paying for municipal services to sustain ongoing improvements and ensure continued access to clean water.

Side note: while this is a good initiative, we hope that the efficiency in revenue collection brought by this system will actually help the council especially Harare city council actually provide clean and safe water on a regular basis to residents.

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