Digital systems are seen as important elements in the governance and management of the water sector. For instance, systems such as digital meters, IoT applications, digital payments, etc can significantly improve aspects of water service delivery and access. But are these new technologies widely adopted as yet, particularly in the global South context?
The open access paper “Diffusion of Electronic Water Payment Innovations in Urban Ghana. Evidence from Tema Metropolis” explores aspects of this question; looking specifically at uptake of electronic water payments (EWP) in Ghana. Drawing on data from water utility customers and the utility’s own database, three main conclusions emerged.
i. EWP adoption is very low (below 3%) though many utility customers were aware of these payment options.
ii. The growth of EWP uptake in urban Ghana is rapid (annual growth rate of 41% from 2017-2018), but from a low base.
iii. Awareness and potential uptake of these payment options were significantly associated with customers’ age, employment status, income, and means of receiving monthly water bills. EWP awareness was higher among elderly customers perhaps since they constitute a larger portion of people with utility pipeline connections from the study. Also, awareness was higher among utility customers with higher income, those employed and those who receive their water bills through electronic channels i.e. SMS or email.
Explanations of why adoption rates are low range from behavioural to transaction fees to technological challenges. However, mobile phone ownership and mobile money usage may not be significant predictors or barriers to EWP uptake given universal mobile phone ownership by customers, and widespread use of mobile money.
Some actions to take to improve adoption include:
- Developing specific guidelines and engagements that target unaware sections of the population, particularly low-income customers through advertising of payment solutions etc.
- Understanding prevailing baseline characteristics of targeted customers before rollout of these innovations. Also, these innovations should be piloted before upscale.
Notwithstanding the barriers that currently exist, it can be seen from this example that digital innovations in the water sector are on the rise. Beyond understanding adoption issues, we will increasingly need better evidence on the impact of such innovations in the global South: not just digital payments but also applications across the water value chain, from water sourcing to end-use. I look forward to examining the experiences and impacts of these innovations in an ongoing project.
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