The advantages of spot billing are well recognized by the various electricity boards in India today. Not only does spot billing lead to better revenue-collection efficiency and better decision systems, it also brings intangibles like transparency and better customer service to the system. There are various devices in the market that aid in spot-meter billing. New features are being added to these devices to aid in increased efficiency and decreased communication timelines.
Remote electricity billing is a unique concept which holds promise for greater customer coverage, in which the electricity board can collect the consumed units data from consumer on mobile phone using GSM network. Each consumer is provided with a unique energy meter, which is having a GSM modem, microcontroller unit and a display unit internally. A SIM card is required for communication. Whenever this system receives an SMS from electricity board, it calculates the number of units consumed and billing amount on slab rate, displays on LCD for user interface. This system also sends the same message to the electricity board for departmental information and database. The unique feature of this system is, the electricity board can disconnect or reconnect the connection from remote place through the mobile phone. As this project works on GSM network, the system can be controlled from any part of the world.
Effective billing is vital for enhanced revenue management. CS with its domain specific solution suites has been undertaking large scale billing activities across multiple DISCOM locations in India for more than two decades. This activity also calls for effective manpower utilization and project management. Service level agreements for minimum billing are also the norm of the day. ‘Spot-billing’ with hand held machines is being widely adopted across the country across various utilities.
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