Pay your WASA bills online

The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has become the first civic agency in the country to offer its customers the true digital experience. WASA’s entire billing and complaint-lodging process has now gone online. WASA customers need no longer stand in long queues at the end of the month to pay their water bills. “It is very easy now. I just need to go to the WASA website, log in, and pay my bills with bKash,” said Minhaz Shujon, a customer.
Zania Haque, a resident of Dhanmondi, told The Independent that she did not know that WASA provided such facility. “I had to depend on the caretakers of my house to pay the bills. Now I can do it myself,” she said. “I wish other utility services had also offered such services,” she added.
The WASA has already completed the automation of its billing and complaint-lodging systems, and it is working on digitising the new water and sewerage connection systems, said sources.
Way back in February 2008, the WASA launched its website equipped with the online billing system, the online complaint-lodging system, and online application forms for new water and sewerage connection.
But thanks to a lack of publicity and ignorance of technical officials at the WASA, it never took off among customers.
However, the situation has changed in the last two years, Taksim A Khan, managing director (MD) of the WASA, told The Independent.
“Dhaka WASA was the first governmental entity to introduce the online billing service,” he said. However, it was not successful as it did not provide real-time service. People are sceptical about technical services if they do not get these in the real time, he explained.
“Also, we did not have a complete database of the connections and billing details of the 3.86 lakh customers”, he said. But now, the WASA has completed the entire customer database. This will help it automate its billing process, he added. “All customers in the Dhaka WASA database have been given a unique login ID and password. They can log on to the website and pay their bills,” Khan said.
The WASA chief said that from January 2012, it has made arrangements with nine banks to provide the real-time online billing facility for water and sewerage services.
In all, 200 branches of these nine banks—South-East Bank (29 branches), Pubali Bank (15), United Commercial Bank (24), Islami Bank (12), Mutual Trust Bank (22), Premier Bank (32), One Bank (26), Social Islamic Bank (21) and Trust Bank (15)—are providing the WASA with real-time online billing facilities.
Khan explained that a customer can go to one of these branches and instantly pay the bills by logging in to his or her WASA account. “The customer can also see the status (unpaid or due) of his billing account change instantly. This is real-time billing system,” he said. Khan said a customer can also pay the bills through bKash or mobile phone. “The WASA has made an arrangement with the mobile operators Grameenphone, Banglalink, and Robi to provide a special service. If a customer registers himself or herself on this service, he or she can pay the bills by sending an SMS to a special four-digit number,” he added.
He said the WASA is working on its website to incorporate e-payment facilities with credit cards. “We have heard that PayPal, the world-renowned e-payment service, will launch its services in Bangladesh. If that happens, I can assure you that Dhaka WASA will be the first organisation to avail of it,” he added.
“Our bill collection has increased after the launch of the real-time online billing system,” he claimed. Khan said they have also launched a hotline ‘16162’ to provide 24/7 customer care services. “When a customer makes a call to that number and places a complaint, it is digitally recorded. The system forwards that complaint to the relevant department. Within a few days, our team takes care of it,” he added.
He said if a complaint is not looked into within 21 days, a signal is automatically generated to indicate that the problem has not been resolved. “Besides, I personally review monthly reports about the complaints and note how many of them have been resolved,” he said.
However, Khan admitted that the launch of a new water connection system online will take some time. “Three months ago, we launched the online sewerage connection provision. Anyone can download the form, fill it in, and send it to us. We provide the connection in the quickest possible time,” he said

Pay your WASA bills online

The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has become the first civic agency in the country to offer its customers the true digital experience. WASAs entire billing and complaint-lodging process has now gone online. WASA customers need no longer stand in long queues at the end of the month to pay their water bills. It is very easy now. I just need to go to the WASA website, log in, and pay my bills with bKash, said Minhaz Shujon, a customer. Zania Haque, a resident of Dhanmondi, told The Independent that she did not know that WASA provided such facility. I had to depend on the caretakers of my house to pay the bills. Now I can do it myself, she said. I wish other utility services had also offered such services, she added. The WASA has already completed the automation of its billing and complaint-lodging systems, and it is working on digitising the new water and sewerage connection systems, said sources. Way back in February 2008, the WASA launched its website equipped with the online billing system, the online complaint-lodging system, and online application forms for new water and sewerage connection. But thanks to a lack of publicity and ignorance of technical officials at the WASA, it never took off among customers. However, the situation has changed in the last two years, Taksim A Khan, managing director (MD) of the WASA, told The Independent. Dhaka WASA was the first governmental entity to introduce the online billing service, he said. However, it was not successful as it did not provide real-time service. People are sceptical about technical services if they do not get these in the real time, he explained. Also, we did not have a complete database of the connections and billing details of the 3.86 lakh customers, he said. But now, the WASA has completed the entire customer database. This will help it automate its billing process, he added. All customers in the Dhaka WASA database have been given a unique login ID and password. They can log on to the website and pay their bills, Khan said. The WASA chief said that from January 2012, it has made arrangements with nine banks to provide the real-time online billing facility for water and sewerage services. In all, 200 branches of these nine banksSouth-East Bank (29 branches), Pubali Bank (15), United Commercial Bank (24), Islami Bank (12), Mutual Trust Bank (22), Premier Bank (32), One Bank (26), Social Islamic Bank (21) and Trust Bank (15)are providing the WASA with real-time online billing facilities. Khan explained that a customer can go to one of these branches and instantly pay the bills by logging in to his or her WASA account. The customer can also see the status (unpaid or due) of his billing account change instantly. This is real-time billing system, he said. Khan said a customer can also pay the bills through bKash or mobile phone. The WASA has made an arrangement with the mobile operators Grameenphone, Banglalink, and Robi to provide a special service. If a customer registers himself or herself on this service, he or she can pay the bills by sending an SMS to a special four-digit number, he added. He said the WASA is working on its website to incorporate e-payment facilities with credit cards. We have heard that PayPal, the world-renowned e-payment service, will launch its services in Bangladesh. If that happens, I can assure you that Dhaka WASA will be the first organisation to avail of it, he added. Our bill collection has increased after the launch of the real-time online billing system, he claimed. Khan said they have also launched a hotline 16162 to provide 24/7 customer care services. When a customer makes a call to that number and places a complaint, it is digitally recorded. The system forwards that complaint to the relevant department. Within a few days, our team takes care of it, he added. He said if a complaint is not looked into within 21 days, a signal is automatically generated to indicate that the problem has not been resolved. Besides, I personally review monthly reports about the complaints and note how many of them have been resolved, he said. However, Khan admitted that the launch of a new water connection system online will take some time. Three months ago, we launched the online sewerage connection provision. Anyone can download the form, fill it in, and send it to us. We provide the connection in the quickest possible time, he said