Start trust billing in state, UPERC urged

LUCKNOW : On the occasion of World Consumer Day (March 15), the UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad requested the UPERC to start trust billing in the state. Under this initiative, the power corporation would enable consumers generate electricity bills on their own.

A proposal regarding this was made around 10 months back but it had been put on the backburner. An amendment to the Electricity Distribution Act, 2005 was made in April to accommodate trust billing, but this sort of billing was not supported by authorities in the state capital.

Consumers who give online consent for trust billing would be given a special code and meter readers would not visit their houses. Such consumers can send a photo of their meter and its reading to the UPPCL website.

Trust billing was tried in Kanpur where KESCO was a big gainer. Now, consumers don’t have to run from pillar to post to get their bills generated.

There are 1.85 crore power consumers in UP. The cost of billing – right from meter reading to generating bills is around Rs 20 per consumer, which means the state government spends crores on generating bills. If trust billing is started, this expenditure could be saved, said Avadhesh Kumar Varma, president, UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad.

He said trust billing would also result in more trust between consumers and suppliers (UPPCL). A memorandum in this regard was forwarded to the UPERC on Wednesday. Varma said trust billing would also reduce chances of corruption in the system.