Kesco has started using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to free consumers from wrong bills. With this technology, bills will be generated by capturing the photo of the meter reading, which will eliminate the possibility of human error. The trial for 393901 consumers was successful in August and now it will be continued. This initiative will provide relief to 7 lakh 43 thousand consumers of Kesco.
UPPCL: Consumers get upset due to wrong electricity bills and keep visiting the office. Different reasons have come up so far for bill discrepancies. But most of the complaints were about incorrect readings. After which Kesco has started meter reading through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to improve the billing system.
Electricity bills will be generated by capturing the photo of the meter reading demand through OCR. In which there will be no possibility of human error. In the month of August, Kesco generated bills of 3,93,901 consumers using OCR technology as a trial. After getting positive results, it has been decided to continue it further.
Kesco is spending a budget of one crore rupees
Kesco is spending a budget of one crore rupees to improve the billing system. The work of billing has been handed over to KTL company. This company has started generating bills using OCR technology. Till now, meter readers were going door-to-door and checking billing discrepancies by inserting cables in the consumers’ meters.
After receiving the complaint, Kesco conducted an investigation, which revealed that the reading is not done correctly due to sunlight falling on the meter. Due to which there is a discrepancy in the bills. After which Kesco started the trial of OCR. This new system will provide relief to seven lakh 43 thousand consumers of Kesco.
Last year, the trial of OCR was done in Lucknow. After which, now the officers of Kesco have decided to implement it.
This is how OCR billing is done
In OCR billing, the meter reader captures the photo of the meter reading and demand through the OCR app present in his mobile. After this, after evaluating the reading, the reading and demand are automatically generated through the app. The bill is generated according to the reading. There is no possibility of human error in this.
These are the main reasons for errors in the bill
- Errors occurred due to the TDS table billing done by the previous billing company.
- The meter readers did not do the probe reading properly.
- Errors occurred in the bills of 25 thousand consumers due to data transfer in the new software.
- The reading was not done on time due to the cancellation of the contract of the TDS company and the action of the new tender.
- Billing was not done correctly due to the malfunctioning of the meters of three thousand consumers.
OCR billing has been started to end the billing problem of consumers. The error in reading will end with OCR. In the month of August, 80% of OCR billing was successfully trialled. Samuel Pal N, Managing Director, KESCO
