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Mangalore, Feb 1: Hefty ledgers are slowly disappearing from the subdivisional offices of the Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM). This is mainly because of an initiative taken by the company to usher in a total revenue management (TRM) system. The pilot project was undertaken in three of its 35 subdivisions. Buoyed by the results MESCOM took up the project in 14 of its subdivisions in the first phase and the remaining 18 in the second phase.
The company initially introduced the TRM system at the number one subdivision at Attavar in Mangalore and in city subdivisions one and two in Shimoga as part of the pilot project. It then ushered in the system in the subdivisions in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikmagalur districts followed by the remaining subdivisions, including those in Shimoga district. An important part of the system is the spot billing machines introduced by the company. A meter reader no longer has to enter billing data manually into bill books. Instead, he can download the data from the computer system at the subdivision and upload data regarding bills issued during the day into the system. Spot billing machines introduced three years ago have completely replaced bill books. The main objective of introducing these machines under the TRM system was to reduce billing errors, said S. Sumanth, managing director of MESCOM. He told The Hindu, "It was our endeavour to automate all our subdivisional offices, including the billing and revenue collection system using TRM." The initial idea is to enable consumers to monitor their power consumption online. "Once the system has stabilised and revenue management is flawless, we can think of having a Web-enabled system for payment of bills," he added. On the fate of old ledgers, Mr. Sumanth said, "We will ensure that they are kept safely in our storerooms as back-up." Hindu
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