Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
- • A digital platform to the utility system,
- • Providing update near real time billing
- • An enhanced customer service portal.
- • Current Electric meter with the manual key-in token and any other pre-existing Electric meter
- • Current existing Water meter.
- • Instant top-up without physical card and manual key-in.
- • Easy top-up via phone, online or retails shops.
- • Clear visibility of utility consumption.
- • Accurate bills. No more estimates. It’s near real time. Electric will generate on every hour and while Water after 24 hours.
- • Closely track usage and spending at any time of the day at your finger-tips.
- • Able to view the latest electric usage hourly whereas for water usage can view daily.
- • No service interruption of water supply. Auto credit transfer from smart electricity meter to smart meter if the smart water meter runs out of credit within 48 hours.
For the New Residential, upon receiving the approval the authorities (Dept. of Electrical Services and Dept. of Water Services), you can purchase for the purchase a new USMS Smart Meter unit (Electric & Water) from Main Office DST Network.
Click on the button below;
Installation form
All you need to do is:
- 1. Key-in your details.
- 2. Choose a convenient time and date for your appointment.
- 3. The Meter Installer will contact you before going over to your premises.
However, if there is any delay on arrival; the meter installer will contact the owner.
Make sure someone’s home
The Meter Installer will call you before coming over to confirm the installation appointment. Upon arrival, the Meter Installer must present their Authorized installer ID and work order form for the smart meter installation as verification.
Registration & Verification
You must show the registered owner name and upload the copy of ID or Identity card (Residential) or Business Registration (Commercial) to USMS customer account.
Inspection & Installation
Meter Installer will take the final reading from your old meters before they start with the smart meter installation. *
- • For Prepaid customers (Electric), Installer will take a picture of the existing electric meter showing the current meter credit balance to upload to USMS Customer Account. The credit balance will be updated within 72 hours after the replacement of the Smart Electric Meter.
- • For Postpaid customers (Electric and Water), the meter reading taken will be calculated by the respective utilities (Dept of Electrical Services & Dept of Water Services) and final bill on the last reading will be issued by the respective utility department within 2 weeks.
On average the timescale for the installation / replacement will take around 30 minutes to 1 hour for both electricity and water smart meter.
* For areas where there is no coverage of the 3G/4G network, Meter Installer will not proceed with the Smart Meter installation and will refer to the network provider.
Final checks
Meter Installer must make sure the power is ON and the water is FLOWING before they leave.
Upon success with the installation, you must sign the installation form on the tablet.
The meter installer will activate the customer smart meter account immediately.
Important: Due to safety purposes, when the weather is raining or flooding, the Meter Installer will not be able to do the installation and will reschedule for the installation/replacement.
Once installed, your smart meter should start working straight away, sending us regular meter readings, so you’ll get near real time reports.
The Meter Installer will test it to make sure it’s all working correctly.
They will also:
- • Register to USMS Smart Meter
- • Briefly explain more details on how your new smart meters works
- • How to top up the smart meter on the various touch points
Please take note: You MUST top up both Electricity and Water meters credit within 72 hours of account activation to prevent disconnection of your services.
If the Water account has a negative credit balance for 48 hours, the negative credit will be deducted from the available Electric credit balance.
You will receive an SMS notification if your credit reaches B$5.00 and it is advisable to top up your meters account to avoid low credit.
Touch points to buy the Smart Meter credit:
- • USMS web portal at USMS website
- • USMS mobile app, available in apple store and android.
- • All INCOMM branches
- • Authorized eDealer (Available soon)
- • Banks and Telco's (Available soon)
There is no installation every Sunday and during Public Holidays.
We know plans can change or there might be some unforeseen circumstances and you might need to reschedule your installation.
To reschedule, give us at least 24 hours’ notice to avoid miscommunications. You can reschedule by calling us at 7399889 or 7399899 during working hours.
You need to call your respective banks to enable the online transaction.
No service interruption of water supply. An auto credit transfer from smart electricity meter to smart water meter if the smart water meter runs out of credit within 48 hours.
Installing the smart meter is a job for an appointed professional certified installer only.
USMS Self Care Portal
USMS Web Self Care Portal is an online portal that allow customers to monitor and top up for their Smart Electric and Water Meters.
You can register and create an account at Step by Step Guide
Login in to your registered account via www.usms.com.bn and follow the instructions to purchase and top up.
The minimum top-up amount is BND$2.00
Payments can be made through accessing the website and we accept all VISA & Master credit cards for payment.
However, customer need to update Debit Cards too, and User to activate card first before purchase top up
Upon successful payment, your Self Care Portal Top up credit will be credited to your Smart Meter Account.
Yes, you will receive a SMS and email notification on the purchase details.
Upon login to the USMS Self Care Portal, the Portal will display to your latest credit balance.
Should you not receive your credit, please contact Talian Darussalam 123 or DSTN hotline 673 7399899 / 673 7399889 (during working hours).
Please call Talian Darussalam 123 for any inquiries or DSTN hotline 673 7399899 / 673 7399889 (during working hours).
The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Top Up & Usage
Customers may only purchase Smart Meter Top Up at INCOMM stores.
Any remaining credit balance will be carried forward to the following month. You may view your current credit balance in the USMS app.
Your Smart Prepaid meter credit will be automatically added to your smart meter upon purchase. Customers can instantly view their balance on the USMS app. There is no longer a need for customers to input the 16-digit code to top up their credit.
The receipt will be emailed to the registered email address once the purchase is completed.
Unfortunately, there will be no refund if you entered the wrong Smart Prepaid Meter number. Customers are advised to confirm the meter number before purchasing.
There will be no disruption to your water supply when your water meter turns negative. If the Water meter account maintains a negative credit balance for more than 48 hours, the system will automatically decut this balance from the available Electric meter account.
The surge may occur when your Water meter account balance reaches zero. In such cases, the system automatically deducts the amount from your Electric Meter account.
The consumption data may not be reflected on real-time and you may only view the data following the time below:
- For Electricity consumption : approximately 1 hour delay
- For Water consumption : 24 hours delay
To view your consumption details, you may go to USMS app and view "Report" in "Consumption History" for either daily or hourly consumption.
For clarification or further information on your consumption details, please contact DSTN by writing to contact.usms@datastraem.bn or our hotline at +673 7399889 / 7399899 to inquire about your account details.
No, there will be no refund as there was only a delay in charging and no overcharges detected.
USMS Quick Top Up
It is a quicker way of topping up your Smart Meter credit without logging in to your account. You may also top up your Family and Friends Smart Meter account with the Quick Top Up.
Access via Quick Top Up
- • Select your Top Up denomination
- • Enter the Smart Meter Number (Electric or Water)
- • Verify your purchase amount & the payment details
- • RThe Smart Meter will display your credit top up value after payment has received successfully.
Or simple download USMS mobile app. Available in iOS and Android app.
You can top up anywhere as long internet access is available and accepts all VISA & Master credit cards for payment.
However, customer need to update Debit Cards too, and User to activate card first before purchase top up.
The minimum top-up amount is BND$2.00
Upon successful payment, your USMS Quick Top up credit will be credited to your Smart Meter Account
Your input will be rejected by the system.
No, there will be No Refund.
Should you not receive your credit, please contact Talian Darussalam 123.
Please contact Talian Darussalam 123 or DSTN hotline 673 7399899 / 673 7399889 (during working hours).
The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
USMS Mobile app
It is an online portal and mobile apps allow the customers to monitor and top up for Smart Electric and Water Meters.
You can simply download USMS mobile app, available in iOS and Android app.
If you have already registered on the USMS Portal, you can login using the same ID and password.
- Once USMS app has been installed on your phone, simply choose either "Residential" or "Commercial"
- Key in your Identity Card No. or Business Registration No. for verification
- Upon successful verification, you will receive an OTP code via SMS to your registered number. Please proceed to create a new password as prompted in the screen.
- Once successfully login, you will be able to view your USMS utilities immediately.
For more information or assistance, please write to contact.usms@datastream.bn or contact DSTN Hotline +6737399889 / 7399899 available during business hours to inquire about our account details.
You can purchase anywhere and anytime as long as you have internet access available.
The minimum top-up amount is BND$2.00.
You can top up anywhere as long internet access is available and accepts all VISA & Master credit cards for payment.
However, customer need to update Debit Cards too, and User to activate card first before purchase top up.
Upon successful payment, your Top Up credit will be credited to your Smart Meter account.
Yes, you will receive a SMS and email notification on the purchase details.
Your input will be rejected by the system.
No, there will be No Refund.
To update the owner's information or the tenant information as the payment responsible, please contact DST Network via email at contact.usms@datastream.bn for the request and provide the following details:
1. Owner/Tenant (Payment Responsible) Name :
2. IC Number :
3. Email Address :
4. Contact Number :
5. Meter Number :
Please also include a copy of their Personal Identification Card (IC) (both front and back) to be uploaded to the system.
Should you not receive your credit, please contact Talian Darussalam 123 or DSTN hotline 673 7399899 / 673 7399889 (during working hours).
The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Legacy Credit
Legacy Credit refers to credits or balances carried over from your previous account. The previous legacy will be transferred to your Smart Meter Account.
There may be a delay due to various reasons and customers are advised to contact DSTN immediately to check on the status of the legacy credit transfer simply by writing to contact.usms@datastream.bn or contact DSTN hotline at +673 7399889 / 7399899 to investigate the issue.
In such cases, the standard process for transfer of credit for the utilities upon meter installation are as follows:
Department of Electrical Services:
- 3 working days for below than 10,000kWh
- At least 2 weeks for more than 10,000kWh
Department of Water Services:
- If credit balance is over $6, the process will take from 3 to 6 months
- If credit balance is below $6, the rocess will take from 2 weeks to 4 weeks
For Residential
- For credit balance over BND6, you may request for the credit balance to be refunded.
- For credit balance below BND6, the credit balance will automatically be transferred to your new Smart Water Meter account.
For Commercial
- Any credit balance will automatically be transferred to your Smart Water Meter account.
Outstanding Water Bill
Yes, you are still eligible to install the Smart Meter
Outstanding Bill will be generated into Customer's USMS account after 2-4 weeks post installation. Customer will be notified via SMS.
Click utilities to see breakdown option. The amount will appear when you click the utilities icon.
Customers may proceed to pay Outstanding Bill by following the steps below :
- Customers can view the monthly debt amount under "Account Details" in the USMS app
- The monthly payment amounts are determined by the Department of the Water Services.
The fixed monthly debt amount can be paid by selecting "Pay Debt" in the USMS app. Customers can contact Department of Water Services if they wish to discuss on the repayment amount.
The duration for settling debt will be specified based on the outstanding amount.
Debt that has been paid will be reduced every month.
For any inquiries, customers can directly contact the Customer Service Counter of the Water Services Department in each district.
Before the first monthly Top Up, customer must settle any Outstanding Bills according to the minimum repayment amount provided. If the Outstanding Bill remains unpaid, customers wont be able to purchase a Top Up.
Yes, this is allowed. By paying more, than the stated amount, your "Debt Balance" and "Debt Period" will be reduced until the debt amount is settled. Customers have to pay continously to prevent the Debt Period from increasing.
For managing any Outstanding Bill, please approach to Department of Water Services to assist with the unsettled bills management.
For managing any Outstanding Bill, please approach to Department of Water Services to assist with the unsettled bills management.
Customer cannot miss paying their monthly Outstanding Bill. They will not be able to purchase a Top Up if they have not paid their Outstanding Bill.
Customers can also make payment at any Incomm counter.
Any repayment fees will automatically be carry forward to the following month and customers may need to settle twice the amount of the overdue bills in the following month.
Yes, you can make an appeal to the Department of Water Services for your repayment amount.
For Residential :
- If your credit balance of over $6, you can request for the credit balance to be refunded within 3-6 months.
- If your credit balance is below $6, your credit balance will be transferred to your new Smart Water Meter account within 2-4 weeks.
For commercial : the balance is automatically added into Smart Water Meter account.
There will be continuous supply of water when your Water meter is in negative credit balance for more than 48 hours. But the system will automatically deduct this balance from your available Electric meter account every 48 hours until your Water meter account is Top Up.
- The surge may occur when your Water meter account balance reaches zero. In suchcases, the system automatically deducts the amount from your Electric meter account after 48 hours, which may give the impression of sudden charges on your Electric meter account.
- For a clearer understanding of your consumption patterns, you may access the consumption report through USMS app.
Once you tap your utilities, choose "Account Details" and click "Pay Debt"