Spot Billing

The Spot Billing system is a system, in which the meter reader visits the consumer’s premises, records the meter reading and issues the bill on the spot using a hand-held computer/Simputer (Fig.).

Short for Simple Computer, the Simputer

Spot billing is a revolutionary solution devised with the intention of enabling the power distribution utilities to streamline and implement an effective metering and billing system, improve cash flows and to make the processes customer-centred.The spot billing process helps in integrating various activities being handled by several people at multiple locations into a single window operation. It has many advantages (Box ).

Box : Advantages of Spot Billing

• On the spot billing with accurate meter reading to the satisfaction of the customer.

• Spot billing leads to much greater revenue-collection, increased efficiency and better decision systems.

• It brings intangibles like transparency and better customer service to the system.

• Reduction in consumer complaints.

• Instant access to MIS after billing information is fed into the server the same day.

Characteristic Features of a Simputer/Spot Billing Machine

We describe below the characteristic features of a Simputer/spot billing machine:

• It is a full-featured handheld computer and its hardware and software can easily be customized as per the utility’s requirements.

• With up to 64 MB of RAM and a 206 MHz processor, it is one of the most powerful handheld computers in the world. This power ensures that there are no compromises in terms of performance.

• The Simputer has 32 MB of permanent storage space which can hold lakhs of customer records. Moreover, storage space can be extended to 1 GB by using a thumb-sized USB flash stick.

• Its interfaces can be in any Indian language (or English), and can be used by even people who have no experience with technological devices.

• The Simputer works well with mobile handheld printers, so that receipts/bills can be given to customers on the spot.

• It has a built-in Smartcard reader/writer which makes a Simputer both secure, and shareable between many field personnel.

• It has many modes of exchanging data with PCs and meters: USB, Serial, Infrared (Wireless), Bluetooth (Wireless). Thus, the Simputer is future proof.

• It can also be used to send and receive data over the Internet, with the help of a regular phone line and a thumb-sized modem. This eliminates the need for field executives to make repeated trips to the office.


Types of Spot Billing Technology
Technology-wise, spot billing is of the following two types:

Technology 1: The Simulator has a small billing engine. When reading is fed into it, the Simulator processes it, and generates and prints the bill at consumer premises.

Technology 2: The billing engine is at a central location. Meter reader enters reading into the Simulator. The Simulator sends the reading to the computer where the billing engine is residing. The computer processes the reading and generates the bill. The generated bill information is send back to the Simulator. The Simulator prints the bill at the consumer premises.

Each of these types of technology has its advantages and disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages of Spot Billing

Most of the utilities in India are using the first technology. Can you explain why?

In some utilities in Uttar Pradesh, spot billing is used in an altogether different manner. Here consumers are expected to bring their meter readings every billing cycle at specified locations. At these locations, utility officials punch the reading brought by the consumer in their computer which is connected to the central computer through a dedicated communication link. The reading isprocessed and the bill is generated in the central computer but it is printed at the key in location. The bill is delivered to the consumer and if s/he wants,s/he can also make payment of the bill at the specified counter in the same building.
 

Usage Scenario: How a Field Executive would Work with a Simputer/Spot Billing Machine

We now describe the process of using the Simputer/Spot billing machine.

• When a field executive leaves office, s/he collects addresses and details of all the households s/he should visit in the day. This is actually the data transferred from a PC to a Simputer by an officer.

• S/he inserts her/his Smartcard into the Simputer to authenticate herself/himself: this provides a high degree of security, as unauthorized persons cannot have access to the data.

• On the field, the field executive can easily get answers to queries like “Show me names and addresses of people who have defaulted payments for the last three months.”

• Once s/he reaches the user premises and takes a reading, s/he can quickly enter it on to the Simputer using a soft key-board.

• S/he then prints out a receipt/bill for the home owner, and collects the money due as per the bill.

• Finally, when s/he is back in office, s/he puts all the collected data back into a PC/server using a cable, in a simple 2-minute process. The data is used for archives, MIS reports, etc. The money collected is deposited at the specified branch of the bank in the specified format.

Advantages of Revised Billing Cycle (Spot Billing) Over

Traditional Billing Cycle and Revised Billing Cycle In the traditional billing cycle, the meter reading used to be carried out on a bi-monthly basis (Fig.).After the completion of the meter reading activity, approximately 7-10 days of time was spent in the correction of exceptional reading cases, bill processing, bill extraction, bill printing and bill distribution. Consumers were given 8 to 14 days of time for payment of the bill. This process involved extra time of approximately 20 to 29 days after completion of the meter reading activity.

Traditional Billing Cycle

In the Revised Billing cycle all the activities pertaining to the recording of meter reading, correction of exceptional reading cases, bill processing, bill extraction, bill printing and hand over of bill to consumers is completed in one step and it saves the 7-10 days of extra time.

Revised Billing Cycle

In the Revised Billing Cycle (Spot Billing), the reading of the meter is conducted at the site and the bill is generated on the spot through spot billing machine (Fig.). This reduces the time of 37-40 days spent in completing the activities of meter reading and bill processing.

Revised Billing Cycle − Spot Billing

 Having explained the billing process that uses IT to its advantage, we turn our attention to online payment of bills. But before studying further, you may like to review what you have learnt so far. Compare the spot billing cycle with the traditional and revised billing