In informal settlements where residents share a conventional connection or standpipe, the onus is on users to agree how to collect payment to cover their shared water bill. If the full bill is not paid, the water may be disconnected, so the poor frequently subsidize the nonpaying poor. The often leads to conflict, particularly where those living closed to the standpipe are perceived to be using more water than those who must fetch and carry from further away.
With prepaid standpipes, this source of conflict falls away, and residents are not penalized by disconnection if others do no pay. They pay $0.04 per jerrycan, which works out at about half of what it cost those who share a bill. The city council faces strong demand from residents for more pay as you go meters in informal settlements.
