After a gap of nearly two months, Madhya Pradesh Western Region Power Distribution Company is again going to start sending its meter readers to houses and accordingly prepare its bills.
The company would also start dispatching hard copies of electricity bill to consumers and send its vehicles to colonies for collection of the bill amount.
Since lockdown was imposed on March 25, the West Disocm has stopped meter reading and dispatching bills.
People were getting average bills on their mobiles or bills prepared on the basis of reading sent by consumers to West Discom.
The company has also announced that power connection will not be cut if any consumer failed to pay electricity bill during the lockdown period.
These steps have been taken to give relief to consumers, however, these steps are likely to hit the revenue collection of West Discom.
According to sources, nearly 120 vehicles of West Discom have been given permission by district collector Manish Singh to go to colonies for bill collections.
The company has also got permission to send hard copies bills and its meter readers to houses in non-containment areas.
Discom develops new billing software
Young engineers of West Discom have developed the next generation billing software. With its own software, the company will be able to do technical work faster. The electricity bill on the mobile will open in just two seconds and the bill can be paid in 10 seconds.
“More than 1 lakh bills of South Division of Indore city have been prepared through the new software. The data of the rest of the four divisions of Indore East, Indore West, Indore Central, Indore North, is being migrated to the new software,” said West Discom managing director Vikas Narwal.
The power consumption of May will be uploaded in the new software itself and in June all 6.30 lakh consumers in the city will get electricity bills from the new software.
Narwal said that this software works fast. He said that amendments in the bills, if any, on the complaints of consumers will also be done very fast.
Adjusted after reading
Narwal said that currently the bills are being made according to old data. The reading prepared on the basis of old data will be matched the actual reading when the lockdown is over. “If the actual consumption is less than the consumption mentioned in the bill, then the amount will also be adjusted,” he added.
