The power supply industry has reached an impasse where urgent steps are required to improve the financial health of the utilities. The revenue to the power utilities can be increased only if it can be ensured that the power sold by them is first of all accounted for, billed for and payments collected in time.There is a greater focus now in the electricity utilities to improve their revenue management system. A large number of meters installed are either defective or stopped. These need to be replaced. The existing meters are tampered to a large extent. The metering device should have capability of recording tampering with its identification and profiling at the time of tampering.Solutions to the limitations and inadequacies of the present metering system can be provided through emerging electronic power metering technologies such as electronic meters, prepaid meters and remote metering.
In addition, the existing system of meter reading and billing is cumbersome and requires a huge workforce to serve a large customer base. The system of a two month billing cycle and the time lag between reading of meter and subsequent preparation, delivery and payment of bills, results in delayed benefit realization by the utility. Non-payment and delay in payments further aggravates the situation for the utility, with the utility having no option but to continue supplying power except in certain extreme cases. Frequent court cases/ public interest litigation cases on account of faulty billing are also causing concern to utility and harassment to the consumers.
Accuracy of bills can be improved by implementing better metering technologies, taking accurate readings by avoiding manual intervention and automating the billing process. The best practices for improving billing accuracy are described in Box
Box : Best Practices for Improved Billing Accuracy
• Download devices for meter reading
• Meter reading interface with billing applications
• Computerized Billing for computation and dispatch of the bill
• Spot billing
Collection and Payment Systems
Payments are currently made in person in most of the places. Only in few places payments can be made on line or through the ATM (Automated Teller Machine). Power utilities can use IT (Information Technology) applications for payment, such as• Electronic payments, including direct debit payments
• Prepaid metering
• Bar coding facility, even when payment is made in person, for faster payment
• Multiple payment locations and not restricted to a particular division subdivision
For providing electronic payment, use of IT would be required for providing interface with entities like banks and building Internet based payment processing. At present, power utilities allow only full payment and the system for providing part payment is minimal or does not exist. This could be introduced by the power utilities.
Revenue protection is highly dependent on the reports generated for MIS(Management Information System) viz. Reports of consumption rise or drop more than 20%, list of consumers with irregular payment, consumption below norms etc. The vigilance department should use these details to take action against erring consumers.
In addition, the existing system of meter reading and billing is cumbersome and requires a huge workforce to serve a large customer base. The system of a two month billing cycle and the time lag between reading of meter and subsequent preparation, delivery and payment of bills, results in delayed benefit realization by the utility. Non-payment and delay in payments further aggravates the situation for the utility, with the utility having no option but to continue supplying power except in certain extreme cases. Frequent court cases/ public interest litigation cases on account of faulty billing are also causing concern to utility and harassment to the consumers.
Accuracy of bills can be improved by implementing better metering technologies, taking accurate readings by avoiding manual intervention and automating the billing process. The best practices for improving billing accuracy are described in Box
Box : Best Practices for Improved Billing Accuracy
• Download devices for meter reading
• Meter reading interface with billing applications
• Computerized Billing for computation and dispatch of the bill
• Spot billing
Collection and Payment Systems
Payments are currently made in person in most of the places. Only in few places payments can be made on line or through the ATM (Automated Teller Machine). Power utilities can use IT (Information Technology) applications for payment, such as• Electronic payments, including direct debit payments
• Prepaid metering
• Bar coding facility, even when payment is made in person, for faster payment
• Multiple payment locations and not restricted to a particular division subdivision
For providing electronic payment, use of IT would be required for providing interface with entities like banks and building Internet based payment processing. At present, power utilities allow only full payment and the system for providing part payment is minimal or does not exist. This could be introduced by the power utilities.
Revenue protection is highly dependent on the reports generated for MIS(Management Information System) viz. Reports of consumption rise or drop more than 20%, list of consumers with irregular payment, consumption below norms etc. The vigilance department should use these details to take action against erring consumers.
AMR based prepaid metering solution helped the power distribution companies. It made metering, billing and collection easy for users and distributors.
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