03 Jul 2018

Paying or checking water bills, reporting a leakage or sewer a blockage need not be a hassle anymore, thanks to Water Utilities Corporation (WUC)’s Online Self-service.

The corporation chief executive officer, Mr Mmetla Masire said during an online self-service applications launch that WUC intends to completely shift from a traditional way of doing things and come up with effective and convenient ways of serving customers such as the use of gadgets.

“We’ll keep it flowing for you in a digitalised way, it doesn’t matter what type of gadget you are using and we are taking WUC to your fingertips,” he said.

Mr Masire highlighted that technology should not only be used within the organisation,  but customers should also use different platforms that would help them report leaks, pay bills and manage water consumption, among other things.

Mr Masire said the use of different platforms such as cellphones to pay bills and making payments at kiosks help do away with issues of queues as they save time and costs. 

He further said the corporation had partnered with banks and BotswanaPost in order to make things easy for customers.

About 15 000 customers already use different platforms to make their payments and this also gives them a great memorable experience, he said.

“We have experienced an increase in payment options and in March this year, P800 000 has been collected from customers through these self-service channels,” he added.

When giving the digital presentation, Mr Solani Setlhako said ‘online self-service improves customer engagement channels, it is convenient as customers can pay at any time and customers will not be stuck in the traditional ways of doing things.

Mr Setlhako highlighted that some of the challenges faced by the corporation was keeping up with technology trends, as nowadays most people use Instagram, twitter and Facebook and that meant that the corporation has to move away from the traditional ways of engaging with customers.

He noted that the digital delivery offerings include checking balances, paying bills and submitting meter readings.

Mr Setlhako noted that in the near future, payments would be made in some shops as this would bring even more convenience to customers. ENDS