PSEB empowers residents with spot billing
Nidhi Singhi, TNN 17 July 2009
PSEB has come with yet another consumer-friendly measure, the Punjab State Electricity Board has tied up with a private company for providing on-the-spot billing facility to residents. Scheduled to kickstart in August, the service would not only save time, but also prove to be a boon for the department as consumers would not be able to evade bill payment.

According to information, while amount up to Rs 1,000 would be payable with cash any sum higher than that would require issuance of a cheque.

Presently, the billing process is scattered in three phases ‘meter reading wherein PSEB personnel visit door-to-door, then comes the preparation of bill according to electricity consumption and the last step includes receipt of money at the board office. However, the new facility would entail that all three steps are covered by one person, all at one ago.

‘I used to find it difficult standing in long queues to pay the power bill. This is a commendable development,’ said senior citizen Harjinder Singh.

Another city resident, Vinita Jain, said, ‘Most of the time people wait for the last date to pay the bill. This results in a lot of chaos at the power board office. Thankfully, PSEB has taken the right step at the right time. Also, it will cut down on the possibility of any discrepancies in the amount.’

Talking to TOI, deputy chief engineer of the board HS Randhawa said on-the-spot billing would add to residents’ convenience by saving their time and energy. ‘It will also encourage transparency as people will be able to see the entire billing process and sort of disagreements, if any,’ he added.