KSEBL's new bills no better than white paper

Kozhikode: Paying the  electricity bill has become a tough job for the consumers these days after the Kerala State Electricity Board  introduced the new system of   billing  through the electronic  machine. KSEB offices are flooded with complaints about the low quality printing and the difficulties of finding the details of the bill. According to the consumers, the printed matter fades  away soon  after the bills  are handed over to them in a small piece of paper of the size of a bus ticket.

“The bill  was changed to a small piece of printed paper a month ago replacing the long sheet  which was filled by the KSEB officials,” said Sadanandan Nair, a consumer here.  “When I went to pay the bill later, I could not find a single letter on it. Everything had  faded away and the officials had to check  the computer again.   The change of  technology should ensure quality also,” he opined. “We often miss the bills which are left in the house by the KSEB men due to their small size,” said Swarna Unnikrishnan.  

A KSEB official here said, “the electronic billing machine is connected to an online server through General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).  We have been getting complaints on the printing quality but soon measures will be taken to rectify them. The system was started to help the proper accounting of the bills. The GPRS-enabled machine is centrally connected to a server that collects information such as the bill amount, unit consumed and the penalty, if any,  and other basic details, he added.