Driving customer satisfaction by tackling NRW in Kenya

Thanks to a pioneering AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) solution from Diehl Metering, the Kenyan water service provider ELDOWAS has drastically reduced Non-Revenue Water, improved billing accuracy, and accelerated its reactivity to maintenance issues. As a result, customer satisfaction has improved significantly.

Eldoret Water and Sanitation Company Limited (ELDOWAS) supplies water to Eldoret town in the Rift Valley of Kenya. The company has earned a reputation as a pioneer in Kenya, becoming the country’s first water service provider to attain ISO 9001:2008 certification. Ever ambitious, ELDOWAS wanted to set new standards in customer satisfaction, but it first had to overcome a number of network problems. These included leaks, unreliable billing, and a Non-Revenue Water rate of 42%, mainly due to fraud and theft.

To address these issues, the company worked with Diehl Metering and our local partner Eastern Africa DANCO Limited to implement a pilot AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) solution. This was one of the first projects of its kind in Kenya, with the scope soon extended to include some 700 smart water meters. Through the solution, ELDOWAS can now monitor its network much more closely thanks to valuable data collected by the smart meters and automatically transferred for access via our IZAR PLUS PORTAL software.

The impact of the AMR solution has been striking. In the areas where AMR has been implemented, Non-Revenue Water is around 6%, compared to 42% in others aeras. ELDOWAS is now much more reactive to maintenance needs, thanks to alarms for leaks and device anomalies, with most issues resolved within a week rather than months, as was the case previously. Furthermore, billing is more accurate, giving customers plenty of reasons to be satisfied. The company itself benefits from greater network efficiency while also saving water and therefore contributing to a more sustainable local economy.