Chennai: Residents currently pay a flat rate of 100 per month for water, regardless of usage. By Dec 2026, however, Metrowater will shift to a usage-based billing system similar to electricity. The shift will begin with metering one lakh commercial and institutional users, such as restaurants and hospitals, and later include households.
The metering plan was driven by Chennai’s growing population and rising water demand, especially as urban areas expand. In 2022, Metrowater supplied 800 million litres daily (MLD) to 7.7 lakh buildings; by 2024, this rose by 300MLD to reach 7.9 lakh homes. Despite this increase, 98% of connections remain unmetered, leading to excessive water usage.
With operational costs rising, Metrowater faced a deficit of 45 crore in 2022-23, burdened by a debt of 4,943 crore, according to the 2022-23 annual performance report. A Metrowater engineer said that metering just 20% of consumers could generate 80% of the revenue and reduce non-revenue water (NRW) the water lost due to leaks, theft, or unmetered supply. Managing director T G Vinay estimated that 25% of water supplied is lost in transit.
To track leaks and NRW, Metrowater will start by metering water at the source, as current systems lack data on water flow from treatment to distribution. By March 2025, 518 bulk water meters will be installed at a cost of 45 crore to monitor flow from the source through to distribution. Equipped with IoT sensors, these meters will show real-time storage levels across treatment and distribution sites.
Following this, Metrowater plans to install one lakh household meters through a public-private partnership, with Metrowater sharing half of the costs, said Vinay.
While this initiative aims to conserve water and improve infrastructure, residents have concerns. “How can they charge us when we get sewage-mixed supply? Quality must improve first,” said Venkatesan S from Pattalam. In response, Vinay assured that old pipelines in north Chennai would be replaced under the 946 crore Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam project.
