Post on 15-Feb-2021
Commercial Losses – The Low Hanging Fruit
Bambos Charalambous
Hydrocontrol Ltd, Cyprus
Accounting for Water
Water is either used
or
it is LOST!
The first step is to establish how much water is produced and how
much is being used2
Accurate and Comprehensive Metering ……. if you don’t MEASURE ……you don’t KNOW ……. you can’t CONTROL…..
Accurate measurement of:
‒ Water produced and/or imported/exported
‒ Water flow in and out of treatment plants
‒ Water flow in and out of storage reservoirs
‒ Water flow into network zones/districts
‒ Water usage by customers
Eliminate or minimise Authorised
Un-metered Consumption
3
Quantify NRW ComponentsBilled metered consumption
Billed unmetered consumption
Unbilled metered consumption
Unbilled unmetered consumption
Unauthorized consumption
Customer metering inaccuracies, billing and accounting error
Leakage on transmission and distribution mains
Leakage and overflows at reservoirs
Leakage on service connections up to metering point
System Input
Volume
Authorized Consumption
Physical Losses
Commercial Losses
Unbilled authorized
consumption
Billed authorized
consumption
Water Losses
Revenue Water
Non-Revenue
Water
Only by quantifying NRW and its components, calculating appropriate performance indicators, and turning volumes of lost water into monetary
values, can the NRW situation be properly understood and the required actions taken.
4
Control of Commercial LossesMeter under-registration:
‒ Improve meter accuracy‒ Volumetric meters‒ Certified meter test bench
Meter reading errors:
‒ Hand-held devices‒ Change meter readers’ routes‒ Check zero/low consumption
Accounting errors:
‒ Billing software‒ Threshold alarms
Water theft:
‒ Theft from hydrants‒ Meter by-passes‒ Tampering with meters‒ Unauthorised connections
Commercial Losses=
Loss of Revenue(valued at retail billing rates) 5
Managing the Commercial Cycle
Scope of Measures to Address the Issues
Meter Installation and Testing
Meter Reading
Data Entry and Billing
Water Theft
Frequent Issues identified
-Size and type
-Under-registration
-Ageing
-Blocked
-Access to meter
-Real vs. fake reading
-Quality of data
-Estimation rules
-Control mechanisms
-Illegal connection
-Meter manipulation
-Theft from fire hydrants
-Installation practices
-Customer use profiling
-Higher accuracy meters
-AMR
-PDA-tracked real-time readings
-Daily schedules
-Regular field checks
-Implement estimation rules
-Exception handling process
-Regular surveys
-Enlist the help of users & civil society
-Create enabling environment, “educate” users
6
Meter Installation and Testing ‒ The “revenue meter” is the link
between network operations and commercial / customer service functions
‒ Understanding consumption patterns: demand profiling as a practical approach
‒ Meter under-registration: how big risk is it & how to tackle it – higher-class meters, combination meters, downsizing
‒ Meter testing: mandatory requirements vs. sample-based best practices
Example of consumption profiling as a tool to assess flow patterns prior to
meter sizing and type selection
7
Meter Reading
‒ Practical problems:
Access to customer meters
Control on meter readers
‒ AMR/AMI: cost-benefit analysis
‒ Suggested AMR practicality: define high-consumption users and apply AMR to these as a start
‒ PDA-based tracking, GPS routes and other tools
8
Data Entry and Billing‒ Evolution of billing systems over the last 10-15 years – cheaper, lighter,
cloud-based systems
‒ Data Quality Assurance
‒ Revenue assurance mechanisms in the area of billing: daily transaction reports
‒ Variance reports
‒ Processing of data and analysis through observation codes
TYPICAL OBSERVATION CODES (list is not exhaustive)
- Real reading- No access (sub-categories can be provided)- Broken meter- Flooded chamber- Self-reading by customerImportant: it is a good practice not to have the category “other” as it may encourage meter readers to use it too often 9
Water Theft‒ Regular visual inspections for irregularities
‒ Look for flags, anomalies in billing records
‒ Comparison of consumption to average values
10
Pay Special Attention to Large Customers
– Big commercial enterprises to be inspected regularly for water pilferage
– Check consumption monthly to detect anomalies
– In suspicious cases: establish a temporary DMA and measure for a few days
11
Interventions to reduce Commecrial LossesIntervention Area Action – Impact
Unmetered
customers
Install meters – Reduction in commercial losses and likely
system input volume (SIV)
Customer
database
Perform customer survey - Improve customer data base and
billing records
Unauthorized useFind and legalize / disconnect unauthorized users -
Reduction in commercial losses and possibly in SIV
Malfunction
customer meters
Replace malfunctioning customer meters - Reduction in
commercial losses with a corresponding increase in billing
Billing errorsCheck meter readings for errors – Reduction in commercial
losses / increase in billing
Large customersReplace meters with high accuracy smart meters - Reduction in
commercial losses / increase in billing
12
Costing of Actions – Example
13
Cost – Benefit (Example)
Intervention Estimated Cost (USD)
Estimated Benefit
(USD/year)
Pay-back Break even (months)
Unmetered Customers
841,750 307,240 33
Customer database
176,325 16,750 126
Unauthorised use 451,042 498,444 11
Malfunction customer meters
252,450 941,443 3
Billing errors 31,000 8,280 45
Large customers 58,000 59,925 12
14
CONTACT DETAILS:
Name : Bambos Charalambous
Organization : Hydrocontrol Ltd, www.hydrocontrolltd.com
E-mail : bcharalambous@cytanet.com.cy
Phone/fax : Office: +357 25581373Cell: +357 99612109
THANK YOU !MULTUMESC!
http://www.hydrocontrolltd.com/mailto:bcharalambous@cytanet.com.cy