Both IT And Human Error At Fault For Wrong Water Bills
By Syazwan Sadikin

Bandar Seri Begawan - The eBilling Integrated System (eBIS) has recently caused-- a major anxiety on members of the public as they have been receiving invoices that ranged from $2,000 to a staggering $40,000 in their water bills.

This issue has caused a concern amongst the public as most cannot afford to pay such high bills and have voiced out on what can be done on the issue.

"The amount that the public received from the bill is not the real amount they are supposed to pay," explained Haji Rosli Haji Omar, Tekad Pemedulian Orang Ramai (TPOR) Unit who deals with water complaints, and later admitted that the incorrect bills sent to the public were from a system error.

He added though the system has been corrected, the problem would still return.

According to Haji Rosli, human error were also a part of the issue at hand, however, many of the officers operating the system are now undergoing courses to enable them to fully understand the system.

In addition, this issue has already been forwarded to the relevant directors and will seek to rectify the problem as soon as possible, he explained.

"It is not our intention to scare the public," said Haji Rosli, adding that they are also striving to work harder to ensure issues such as the public receiving incorrect bills are minimised.

As of yesterday, the system is running smoothly and work has resumed normally.

Whereas before, after the recent Chinese New Year celebration, the system could only operate for more than an hour before it shuts down, thus interrupting work as a whole and, in the process, receiving between 20 to 30 complaints per day, especially during the earlier part of the month.

The eBIS was implemented in Brunei-Muara on September 10, last year where the installation and maintenance of eBIS is a collaboration between the Water Services Department, under the Public Works Department and local IT solutions provider ZNet Technologies.

In theory, the system allows the workers responsible for reading the water meters to issue utility bills to the respective consumer’s onsite and also allows customers to check their water bills online.

Currently, the department has to regularly deploy a team to collect meter readings and return to report and process their amassed data before utility bills can be sent out.

Moreover, half of the workers who are responsible for the reading are employed from the private sector. The eBIS system was installed with the aim to enhance the provision of metering and billing services to the public as well as improve its service delivery by aiding the middleman process in data gathering and reducing response time.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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