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The Customer Care section spent their day in the heart of Kiawara in Nyeri Town serving our customers. The multi departmental team has been hailed by the customers for taking the services closer to them. This is being conducted under the customer sensitization exercise which seeks to educate them on services rendered, how to access them as well as resolving customer complaints. The team will head to Majengo on 16th September 2021 for the same exercise. The exercise is one of the Company’s interventions in Low Income Areas aimed at increasing access to clean water and sanitation services.

Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company is committed to the realization of the set target by the government of Kenya of making potable water and safe sanitation accessible to all by the year 2030 and United Nations SDG 6 which promotes the accessibility of clean water and sanitation for all.

The exercise was conducted in strict observance of the Ministry of Health guidelines on curbing the spread of the Corona Virus Disease. Customers were sanitized on arrival and each one of them was provided with a mask.

The performance appraisal system of any organization is a vital component of the health of the whole business cycle. The water sector and Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company Ltd in particular is not an exception to this view. The increasing significance of performance appraisal processes and performance management systems is of fundamental importance to the performance of any organization. Thus what gets measured gets done. Performance appraisal is a significant component of performance management. Performance management seeks to achieve better results by understanding and managing employee performance with an established framework of planned goals, standards and competencies. It includes planning, developing, monitoring, rating, and rewarding employee contributions to business organisation. It is based on the principle of management by contract rather than by command.

Con­tin­u­ous per­for­mance man­age­ment cre­ates an ongo­ing dia­logue and an atmos­phere of trust, sup­port and encour­age­ment. It also helps devel­op a rela­tion­ship between employ­ee and the com­pa­ny. If an employ­ee is aware that their man­ag­er and the company cares about what they are doing and is ded­i­cat­ed to help­ing them do bet­ter and progress their career,  their commitment to their employer and motivation levels are likely to remain high.

It is this regard that NYEWASCO has embarked on an ambitious performance contracting exercise which commenced on 27^th July – 30^th July at the Kenya School of Government, Embu Campus. The training was aimed at equipping supervisors across all departments with knowledge of how to handle the per­for­mance man­age­ment process which com­bines infor­ma­tion gath­ering through mon­i­tor­ing goal com­ple­tion, feed­back and dis­cus­sions. By analyzing suc­cess­es, strengths, learn­ing from mis­takes and exam­in­ing poten­tial for growth and devel­op­ment, NYEWASCO will devel­op tal­ent, enhance indi­vid­ual per­for­mance and weed out prob­lems.

For Mary Wangui Kigia, a resident of Ndurutu Village, Kerichu Division, Nyeri County, Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company Ltd is a life saver that shall remain etched in her memory lane. Wangui, a beneficiary of a free water connection is full of life even at her advanced age. The free connection was implemented under the aegis of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through the Pro- Poor department.

NYEWASCO is committed to conducting her business and affairs in a socially responsible, sustainable and meaningful way taking into account ethics, the environment and society at large. The CSR programme is part of the company’s plan to continue to build trust and public confidence through public awareness and strong stake holder engagement. It is also an avenue of embracing responsibility for the impact of the company’s activities on the environment which is why Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company Ltd is a big campaigner of Environmental conservation through the “Conserve the Environment today, it will save you tomorrow” imitative. The initiative aims at not only planting, but also growing trees from the seedbed to maturity. The company has established an arboretum at Kiganjo sewer pumping station where over 20,000 trees have been planted in 2021 so far. The arboretum which is projected to be fully operational by 2024, will be open to the public and will host a football pitch for the youth.

The upgrade exercise of the Ruring’u township and rural areas corridor supply network which has been ongoing in phases is still ongoing. The technical team is working on the lower stadium stretch which is approximately 1.0 kilometers. The objective of the upgrade is to increase the volume of water supply to customers in Ruring’u and the adjacent areas which has been informed by an increase in demand. The team is also working on customer meters re alignment, servicing and raising meter covers.
The upgrade has also been necessitated by the regular pipe bursts experienced in this section as a result of the poor state of the PVC pipes.
The exercise involves replacement of old dilapidated PVC and galvanized iron pipes with larger High-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes. This will kill two birds with one stone in that apart from increasing the volume of water to customers, it will also decrease the amount of water lost through pipe bursts and leakages also known as non- revenue water.
Customers in Ruring’u, Kunyiha, Atlas, Florida and Safaricom rural, Wamai, Castro, Stadium B and the adjacent areas are expected to notice an improvement in supply as soon as the upgrade of the section is completed. The company is committed to improving the customer experience in all its services.

Did you know that water theft through illegal connections or meter by-passes, self connection after cut off for non- payment is a criminal offence punishable by law? The following penalties applies:
1. ILLEGAL CONNECTION: Commercial, Industry, Construction fraud- Sh. 100,000 plus estimated consumption during the period of illegality.
2. ILLEGAL WATER CONNECTION FRAUD DOMESTIC- Sh.30,000.
3. SELF CONNECTION after cut off for non payment Sh. 5000 and billing backdated from date of cut off.
These penalties have been set by Water Services Regulatory Board (The Kenya Gazette No. 2188 ) to deter water theft and failure to pay may lead to a jail term.
Last week, a man was who was involved in water theft was caught by our security & investigation department whose mandate is to weed out the vice. He was taken to Central Police Station where he was booked and is out on cash bail. He is required to pay for the penalty and billing backdated from the date of cut off. The total sum has escalated way above what he owed before the illegal connection and failure to pay will lead to criminal charges being brought against him. It is not worth the trouble. Get a legitimate water connection to avoid these penalties. Our team is on the ground verifying all water and sewer connections.
We urge our customers to report to us any case of water theft, illegal water and sewer connections, illegal discharge of waste water in un-designated points, meter vandalism and theft to the nearest police station or to us through the following communication channels:
1. Facebook@nyewasco
2. Twitter@watee_nyeri
3. Toll free phone number 0800721095
4. Phone number 0734732481
Email
Let’s stop mwizi together. Help us serve you better.

The Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company (Nyewasco) has unveiled a new strategic plan that seeks to steer the service provider to greater heights. The 2021/2022- 2025/2026 Strategic plan is a key milestone for the over two decade-old water service provider. Incorporated in 23rd September 1997, Nyewasco can trace its birth to the late 1950s. The first infrastructure was set up in 1959. However, for now Nyewasco has only one water source which is the Chania River. “We have to credit our fore bearers, the visionary engineers who came up with the idea and infrastructure that we now rely on because we are building on what they set up decades ago,” Eng. Kahuthu noted. The Nyeri Water Supply Project was the flagship project, for the company which was largely supported by German Technical Cooperation through GTZ in its establishment. Nyewasco undertook the project in early 2004, that ensured the construction of the treatment plant which increased water production from 6,000 cc to a capacity of 27000cc. The project also improved the water quality provided by the company which is one of the reasons, the company has been propelled to the best water service provider in Kenya for over 12 years. While water provision has 98 per cent coverage for over 100,000 residents. plans to be implemented in the 5-year strategic plan.

The company has remained committed to its core values which are; customer service, ownership, environmental consciousness, continual improvement, teamwork & efficiency, research & innovation and corporate social effectiveness. According to Eng. Kahuthu, the company attributes one of the key factors contributing to her success to the support from the County Government of Nyeri under the stewardship of H.E Governor Mutahi Kahiga. “I am grateful for the support accorded to us by Nyeri Governor H. E Mutahi Kahiga in terms of provision of financial resources and implementation of projects, while allowing us to carry out our mandate without interference, which has led to the gradual growth of Nyewasco,” noted Eng. Kahuthu. In addition, Eng. Kahuthu noted that Nyewasco’s exemplary performance can be attributed to the good leadership by the late MD CPA Peter Gichaaga, who grew the company to greater heights jointly with the board of directors.

“Together with a formidable team, supportive board of directors who provide the company with the necessary oversight to carry ou our duties,” noted Eng. Kahuthu. Further, Nyewasco attributes her continued success to the excellent performance of all its members of staff. They are well acquainted with their responsibilities for efficiency and effectiveness and are continually motivated through training and team building activities.

“Nyewasco has incorporated technology in terms of communication and payments, which has significantly improved our services, especially during these Covid-19 times. We have also adopted the new systems in the market that have heavily reduced our wastage for instance, in non-revenue water, we have maintained the non-revenue water at 15percent and in billing systems, the technology has enabled us to serve our customers with minimal errors and at their convenience,” added Eng. Kahuthu.

Challenges

The company has faced, financial constraints with the main issue being inadequate fund mobilization for projects, without any subsidies, the company relies on internally generated funds and support from the County Government and National Government. Lack of adequate water storage threatens water security for the company because the l There is a need for a Strategic Water Reservoir to address this challenge, Nyewasco the Company is working closely with the National Government through TWWDA & CGN to realize the vision of constructing a Mega Dam/ Multipurpose Dam (Muhoya Dam) at Zaina Forest.

Also, Nyewasco is working to overcome, the high energy costs increasing the business risk, hence prompting the company to explore alternative energy sources including solar energy and Hydro-Power. In 2017, the Company celebrated 20 years since it was incorporated, and also the previous strategic plan, for 2016/17- 2021/2022. This strategic plan underwent a midterm review and they noted, they have implemented 85 per cent of the strategic objectives. However, the plan expires in June 2021, and therefore there is a need for the introduction of the new strategic plan to propel the company to meet its goals in the coming five years. Truly, Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company have lived true to its mission, which is ‘To provide quality water, sewerage and allied services at commercially and environmentally sustainable levels’. The key strategic themes are Corporate Governance, Financial Health, Service Delivery, Low[1]income Areas and their customers, Human Resource Capacity, Environmental Consciousness among stakeholders and Partnerships and Collaborations.

Under the new strategic plans, the company has expanded the values to strive towards.

These include,

Customer-Centric: Putting customer first and at the core of the business.

Professionalism: Reliability, Competence, Dependability and Respect.

Innovativeness: Ability to challenge industry norms and provide solutions.

Teamwork: Harnessing contribution of every partner.

 Integrity: Guided by sound moral and ethical principles.

Responsiveness: Providing value within an acceptable time.

Result Oriented: Focus on outcome.

Key achievements

• Developed Performance Management scheme including policy and tools.
• Timely implementation of Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)
• Active in Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) activities. • Reviewed and updated the Customer Service Charter. • Adoption and Integration of pro-poor policy in the company’s activities.
• ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 Accreditation of its laboratory services. • Evaluated for the 12th time in a row as the Best performing WSP during the WASREB impact report of 2019/2020.
• Repayment of loans without defaulting up to date. • Continued provision of services on a 24/7 basis.
• Water Extension to LIAs and informal settlements

The Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company Ltd introduced a new pro- poor tariff which took effect in the month of April. The tariff which takes into consideration the needs of customers in the low income areas who are the majority, charges Ksh 47 per cubic meter which is also referred to as a unit of water. The cost of production of one unit is Ksh 66.08. This translates to a Ksh 19.08 subsidy per unit. This will go a long way in reducing the burden of the low consumers in accessing clean and safe water for domestic use.

On the other hand, it costs Ksh 52.12 to clean one unit of waste water. However, the consumers who fall under the lower cluster of consumption will be charged Ksh 45 enjoying a subsidy of Ksh 7.12.

A survey conducted by the Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB) on the company’s service area showed that 72% of the consumers are poor and consumed a maximum of 6 units per month. As such there was need to review the tariff and come up with a structure which subsidized the rates for this group of customers. The successful implementation of this tariff will help the company to dispense its mandate effectively while taking care of the people living in the low income areas.