the common 20-litre container. The kiosk operator has full control of the water business and sells water at fixed rates, as agreed with the utility. There are several measures to prevent non-payment of bills and overcharging by the operator. Methods include flexible payment systems, such as weekly billing to avoid accumulation of the water bill. Other methods of distributing water include punching holes in a card, suitably numbered, as water is taken or through purchase of tokens etc. Recently the use of electronic prepaid meters has become possible whereby consumers pay in advance for an electronic token which allows so many accesses to a fixed volumetric discharge or which allows for a certain volume to be drawn down over several visits. There have been problems over the maintenance of such systems but some countries are now finding them very useful and encourage their use in all low-income households, not just kiosks. The utility can also use various approaches to enable the operator pay the water bills. 159. The costs incurred by the utility in arranging for payment through standposts are higher than for normal connections and utilities are therefore tempted to make additional charges accordingly. This disadvantages the poor who are most vulnerable to these higher charges. In the same manner that a multitude of small household connections cost more to a utility for delivery of water relative to large users, but these costs are absorbed in the name of social fairness, then similarly the additional costs of standposts should be absorbed, allowing lowincome consumers to pay only the average consumption charge, or the lifeline charge where that is used. It is proposed that utilities should sell water in bulk to kiosk operators at lower than average rates, thus cross-subsidising with the higher income groups who have individual connections, to achieve social equity goals. 160. There is a similar challenge in ‗regulating‘ the prices charged by neighbours with a household connection on-selling their water, or water vendors taking water from authorised (or unauthorised) distribution points to re-sell to those without connections. Whatever regulations or advice given it is likely that these unauthorised sellers will continue to charge an unfair mark-up to which may well be added the cost of moving water in small containers, again with a mark-up. These Guidelines suggest that little attempt is made to regulate this important service. If the incremental blocks are sufficiently limited (see above) then the water charge from these points will not be unduly discriminatory (as it has to be if high life-line blocks are incorporated). In principle, water utilities should not prohibit on-selling of water, because this is a way of reaching those un-reached by the utility for whatever reason. 161. The guidance is that all such on-selling or retailing of water to the poor represents a business opportunity being missed by the direct provider and that any project or investment by the Bank should be, at least in part, focused upon delivering water conveniently by pipe to those customers who are clearly able to pay. Part of that process of upgrading service delivery is to recognise the current livelihoods dependence of water vendors on their trade and due allowance should be made in any project to provide training for alternative work, for example as meter readers and plumbers, or better still as part of the utility‘s supply chain. Those who have been water vendors are best placed to be contracted to operate water kiosks.
44