A total of 65,000 smart meters have been installed by ARMS Ltd so far and 3,600 bills were being issued according to the smart meter electronic system, company CEO Wilfred Borg said this afternoon.

Speaking at the Birkirkara council during the launch of a service enabling clients to pay their bills at the council, Mr Borg said that the electronic bills were being issuedto 200 account holders in Mdina, 400 in Manikata and 3,000 in Zurrieq. Swieqi would follow shortly.

The CEO said that by the end of the year, ARMS intended to have six localities in Malta and one in Gozo fully built through the smart metre system.

A system similar to that launched in Birkirkara today already existed at Gudja and Ghaxaq, but, for the first time, bills paid at Birkirkara would be updated into the system electronically. The council would also accept applications for services provided by ARMS.

ARMS also launched a portal where clients could access their personal account and pay their bills online. Shortly there would also be a billing calculator.

The CEO noted that ARMS collected around €400 million a year for Enemalta and Water Services Corporation. The company also managed to reduce debtor days by 20 over the past year.

Mr Borg said that the problem of bill delays had been mitigated a lot and while in the 12 months up to January there were only 16 per cent of account holders who received four or more bills a year, the figure rose to 80 per cent in the 12 months leading to March.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said that waiting time at the Luqa central office had gone down to 30 minutes and the government was committed to finish the Gattard House project by summer, moving the central office there.

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