Siem Reap sewerage fixed billing by deleting three signatures

The Utility of the Future program was built to make water and sanitation utilities improve continuously rather than wait for a single big reform. Its portfolio covers more than 150 utility processes, but it starts with staff-owned diagnosis.

In Siem Reap, Cambodia, that diagnosis produced a small but elegant fix. The deputy head of the sewerage unit told the World Bank that, less than 50 days after launch, the utility optimized billing by eliminating a process that required three manager signatures.

The fix was not glamorous infrastructure. It was a workflow deletion and digitalization move that let the utility bill all customers on time, with expected revenue gains supporting financial sustainability.

Remove approvals before adding systems

The program looked for quick wins inside existing routines rather than only capital projects.

Removing signatures attacked elapsed time without weakening the service itself.

Staff involvement made the fix practical because the bottleneck was visible to the people using the process.

Before buying a bigger system, map the approvals that make the current one slow; the cheapest automation may be deleting a queue.

Between 2020 and 2022, the World Bank says Utility of the Future reached more than 80 utilities in over 30 countries. Each implementation applies about 20 short-term improvement actions and prepares a strategic plan for longer-term needs.