SHAH ALAM: Flat residents without individual meters can register with their local council's Commissioner of Building (COB) to enjoy Selangor's free water programme from next month.
"This new mechanism will replace the old coupon system," said executive councillor for housing Iskandar Samad yesterday.
Under the new scheme, management councils, joint management bodies or developers will only have to inform the COB on the number of units at their apartments to receive the 20 cubic metres of free water per home.
Iskandar said the state would then pass on the information to Syarikat Air Bekalan Selangor (Syabas) to make the deduction from the bulk water bill.
"The deduction must be shown to the COBs," the Cempaka assemblyperson added.
He said the COBs would also conduct spot checks on low-cost flats to ensure the number of units reported is accurate.
Iskandar said the move would benefit residents without individual meters who currently have to rely on the coupon system.
He said the state started the free water programme in 2009, but Syabas was unable to replace bulk meters with individual meters in all flats.
He said 252,591 homes have applied for individual meters since 2009 but only 51,859 applications have been approved.
In addition, the low-cost flats must settle their arrears with Syabas and obtain residents' approval to apply for individual meters.
"So we started the coupon system, allowing residents to claim for the deduction using the coupons but the procedures is complex and the results aren't satisfactory," said Iskandar.
However, he said the latest scheme is just a temporary measure as low-cost flat residents must continue to apply for individual meters - Selangor Times.