The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) plans to import 100,000 smart meters for water to be installed at apartment buildings and shops, local daily Al Rai news paper reported. Simultaneously a similar tender to buy and install electricity smart meters also will be floated, daily added.

This project will allow the ministry to collect water fees directly from tenants individually, thus signaling a shift from the current system in which building owners mostly pay the water bill for the whole building.

Tenants, who are mostly expatriates, would thus be required to pay their own electricity and water bills through smart meters to be installed individually for each apartment. The ministry hopes to finish installing the meters in time when the new energy tariffs are implemented in April 2017.