The Punjab government is providing domestic consumers with 300 units of free electricity per month. According to the rules, if a consumer’s consumption exceeds 300 units, they have to pay the bill for the entire 300 units. In light of this, there have been discussions about irregularities or manipulation in meter readings for some time. Manipulating meter readings while generating bills causes financial losses to the government, and sometimes incorrect readings lead to incorrect bills.
To prevent this problem and make the billing system transparent, Powercom has implemented a new Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system. Under this technology, meter readers will no longer need to manually enter readings. Instead, they will take a clear photo of the meter, and the system will automatically read the reading from the photo and generate the electricity bill. This process will completely eliminate the possibility of any human error or deliberate manipulation in meter readings. The OCR system automatically scans every number marked on the meter and enters the data into the billing system accordingly. In addition to OCR, the department has also provided another option. In places where there are network or camera-related issues, the meter will be directly connected to the system by attaching a lead to the machine. In this case, the machine will automatically take the reading, and the bill will be generated.
The meter reading contract has recently been awarded to a company called Fusion. The new company has been instructed to immediately implement the OCR-based billing system. This will make the billing process completely digital and eliminate the possibility of any tampering. With the implementation of the new system, consumers will receive accurate bills, thus eliminating the need to visit offices after receiving incorrect bills. Consumers will be able to verify their readings themselves from the meter. Currently, after awarding the contract to the new company, it is taking some time to update the system. Consequently, the department is receiving complaints regarding incorrect billing with the N.code system.
New system will be beneficial: Officials
Officials said that the new system will be beneficial and has been tested successfully. This will eliminate the problem of incorrect billing for consumers. It ensures that no consumer pays an inflated bill, nor can the free electricity scheme be misused. Once billing starts with the OCR system, departmental revenue will stabilize and transparency will increase.
Next focus will be on preventing electricity theft
Officials further stated that after the changes made to the billing system are implemented, several more changes will be made to prevent electricity theft. A roadmap has been prepared by the department for this purpose. In this regard, several necessary steps are being taken to curb electricity theft on a large scale. This will reduce the financial losses incurred by the department.
