Change water meters every five years or submit annual report: New BMC rules

Private meters have to be changed every 5 years, or else owners would have to get it tested yearly and submit a certificate; all costs to be borne by owners

The citizens of Mumbai will have to change their water meters every five years or submit a health report yearly, states the new rules of the BMC. Moreover, they will have to bear the cost if they choose to either replace or test their meters. There is, however, a relief in case the meter is stolen. The hydraulic engineering department of the BMC has come up with the new rules for private water meters.

Until now, there was no limit on the age of a meter. The civic corporation would take a private meter for random testing and also bear the expense of re-installing it in case of no defect. But, if the meter was found faulty, the owner would have to repair it within a month. According to the BMC’s new rules, a meter has to be changed before its validity expires or after five years, whichever is first. If owners want to keep the same meter, they have to submit a meter test report every year, certifying its condition, and also pay for the removal, test and re-installation of the meter, the rules state.

The new rules offer a relaxation in case the meter has been stolen or misplaced. In such cases, until now, the BMC recovered the full cost of a new meter in six equal instalments. The charges will be reduced by 10 per cent every year. “From the date of registration of theft, excluding depreciation, product-wise price and scrap price will be recovered. So, if the meter gets stolen in the second year, the customer should pay 90 per cent of the cost plus scrap charges. In the ninth year, the cost will reduce to 10 per cent plus scrap charges,” said an engineer from the hydraulic engineering department. Earlier, the owners paid 100 per cent charges.

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