IE : Now, Power Bills with a photo of reading on meter : Oct 17,2007
Now, Power Bills with a photo of reading on meter
DHAVAL KULKARNI Mumbai , OCTOBER 16
IN a first in the country, Maha Vitaran, Maharashtra’s power distribution utility, has started a photo meter billing system aimed at bringing more efficiency to the power billing mechanism besides cutting the utility’s losses.
Under the new system – MahaVitaran wants to patent it -, the bills of the 1.40 crore consumers in the state will carry photographs of the reading on the electricity meter. To be replicated statewide, it has currently taken off in the Ganeshkhind and Rasta Peth circles of Pune and the Vashi circle in Navi Mumbai.
Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Managing Director, Maha Vitaran, said the move had been prompted by complaints that the utility’s employees or personnel from the outside agency to which the meter reading work
Power bills with reading on meter
had been outsourced, were billing the consumers without actually checking the meters. The staff tended to draw up lesser consumption figures so that fewer complaints would be received from the consumers end.
However, he said, some consumers also got bills later with high consumption figures. In some cases, the consumers were also found to be hand in glove with the unscrupulous personnel.
The new system will do away with these lacunae as the MahaVitaran personnel or agency staff entrusted with the work will have to take a photograph of the consumers’ meter, which would be printed on the bill. The photograph will show the units consumed and the relevant details like the meter
number, along with the date and time. This will enable the utility to get an accurate figure of the electricity consumption of the consumer and enable billing according to this actual consumption.
“This on the spot checking and photography will ensure that the employees check the meter readings and reduce
incidents of meters being bypassed and tampered to show less consumption and billing. This will reduce losses and leakage and have a positive impact on the revenues of the MahaVitaran,” he added.
Senior MahaVitaran officials noted how billing complaints ranked second after the complaints about load shedding in the state.
“In areas where the photo meter billing system has been
initiated, billing complaints have reduced substantially. Apart from reducing losses and theft, the honest consumers will benefit as the improvement in the MahaVitaran’s financial health will be reflected in the tariffs,” the official added.
In a user-friendly gesture, the last one year’s record of electricity consumption will also be mentioned in the bill and the photograph will also carry the date and time.
However, the move has its sceptics. Said Pratap Hogade of the Maharashtra Rajya Veej Grahak Sanghatana: “Such measures are for people who pay bills honestly, but what about those unscrupulous consumers whose power use is not charged according to the meter?”
Publication : IE; Section : Front; Pg : 1; Date: 17/10/07