See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/334447048

A Proficient and Smart Electricity Billing Management System

Chapter · January 2020

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-24322-7_20

CITATIONS READS

4 7,372

2 authors:

Pramod Kumar Poladi Kaluva Sagar

SR University Institute of Aeronautical Engineering
41 PUBLICATIONS   278 CITATIONS    8 PUBLICATIONS   47 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Pramod Kumar Poladi on 27 July 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 A Proficient and Smart Electricity Billing
Management System

P. Pramod Kumar1(&) and K. Sagar2

1
Department of CSE, Osmania University, Hyderbad, Telangana, India
pramodpoladi111@gmail.com
2
Department of CSE, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology,
Hyderabad, Telangana, India
kadapasagar@cbit.ac.in

Abstract. Electricity is an energy that play a major role in human life. In day to
day life, each and every device from machinery to wrist watch everything works
on electricity. It is the most basic requirement next to food, shelter, and clothing.
From the past decade’s lot of changes took place in electricity departments but
even now they are using manual billing system. This system has a wide range of
disadvantages like malpractices are done while billing, escaping from punish-
ment if any late payments, manpower for billing and collecting bills and wastage
of paper billing. And moreover, if a fire accident or a technical problem arises
the whole lane (transformer) will be terminated from power supply this may
cause an inconvenience to the peer consumers too. Here, we are concerned about
the economic loss that arises due to the manual billing system. In the manual
billing system, every month end or for a couple of months bill is generated. An
employee from the electricity department comes to each and every house for
billing the meters based on the number of units the consumer has consumed.
Hence, In this paper, we propose and discuss a new adaptive mechanism which
reduces all the above-mentioned losses.

Keywords: Cash Deposit Machine
SIM
SMS
Electricity billing

Smart Retrofitting

1 Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to present a mechanism to prevent malpractices are done
while generating electricity consumption bills, to prevent from escaping of punishment
if any, to reduce manpower for billing and collecting bills and wastage of paper for
billing. So far many mechanisms are introduced and implemented but this mechanism
requires two devices, they are Integrated device - A device that displays price and
power consumed, and is connected to the server by means of a SIM card and AAD-
HAR card which is registered on the name of house owner by establishing a link with
the electricity bill meter number and also supports e-payments (online payments). This
device is fixed to the meter such that it requires technicians to replace or repair so that
some malpractices can be prevented. Just by changing the price per unit in the server all
the electric bill meters get updated by the new values. Cash Deposit Machines

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

S. C. Satapathy et al. (Eds.): ICETE 2019, LAIS 3, pp. 156–160, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24322-7_20
 A Proficient and Smart Electricity Billing Management System 157

(CDM) is provided in all electricity departments. Basically, this machine requests

mobile number (or) AADHAR number including electricity bill meter number fol-
lowed by displaying the charges and asking for payments then returns the change
(or) deduce this extra amount in next payment at last prints a receipt of payment
successful. Every minute the display readings changes based on the power consump-
tion and display the price and stores the data directly in the server database. Every
month 1st an SMS will be sent to the registered mobile number of a monthly bill if this
bill remains due by 15th of month extra fine as the penalty will be added further if the
bill is not paid power supply will be disconnected to the house automatically from the
server, this disconnection cannot be stopped until and unless a bill is paid [1].

2 Related Work

Many systems have been proposed in order to reduce this manual billing. Nowadays
electricity department is using a billing meter that directly detects the meters and copies
the number of units consumed and billing is done but however, in this case, the
manpower is again required in order to carry the device to all the meters. Many
people/teams proposed a lot of techniques in order to reduce manpower in electricity
billing and tried to make that work simple and efficient. Most of those solutions are
GSM Based techniques where people place a GSM module connected to it and sends a
message from a mobile to the particular SIM to which meter it is placed here they
started generating bills to the consumers one in a month or for a couple of months [2].
The below-given figure is one such kind of smart billing system published in July 2015
[1] (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Smart billing system published in July 2015.

158 P. Pramod Kumar and K. Sagar

3 Methodology

This approach has been divided into two parts:

(1) A Smart Retrofitting Device: Retrofitting device consists of four parts likely a
Microcontroller, Relay, GSM SIM 800A Module and LCD Display. Here the
microcontroller is used to program and control the GSM, Relay, LCD display as
per required necessary [4]. The relay is placed between the mains that enter the
house and this relay is operated by the microcontroller on the bases of the message
signal that has been received by the GSM module. Here the messages to the GSM
module will be sent by the electricity department.
(2) CDM (Cash Deposit Machine): Generation of electricity is a task and also
collecting those charges is also a time killing work for the electricity department.
Here CDM similar to the kind of ATM’s is to be placed at each and every sub-
station and in offices of the electric department so that customers can pay their
electricity bills at any time with 24*7 service this reduces the manpower too [7]
(Fig. 2).

SUPPLY
Relay Power
spdt Calculator
POWER
METER
CIRCUIT

MICROCONTROLL

GSM LCD
Module DISPLAY

Fig. 2. Block diagram showing proposed methodology

The Retrofitting Device is set as it should respond only for the messages of the two
numbers so that no other person can get access over that meters for every minute to
minute or once in a day or once an hour the display will get updated with the value of
 A Proficient and Smart Electricity Billing Management System 159

power consumed and charge for that consumption. This price value can also be updated
through the message. The SIM card number will be same as the registered mobile
number of the house owner in case they change their mobile number they should even
update their details in electricity department by providing an acknowledgment letter
[6]. This should also be linked with the AADHAR number of the customer that helps in
case of bill payment. Every month end the GSM module will generate a message to the
house owner’s mobile number of monthly consumption. If at all any late payments the
GSM module will automatically add finely to that bill. If the late payment is above one
month automatically power supply will be terminated from the mains to house so that
until and unless they pay the bill they will not be able to use power. In case of any fire
accidents if we make a call to the electricity department and inform them they will turn
off the relay board using Message so that it will be secure.CDM can be used for bill
payments by using your registered mobile number or by entering your AADHAR
number including meter number. As this machines will get connected to the server they
directly update your house meters display [8].

4 Research Limitations and Practical Implications

This technique brings a lot of change where it avoids all the manual billing systems
reducing manpower for generating and collecting the bills. It helps the government in
the proper/strict collection of bills. Most of the malpractices can be avoided. Easy
payment method for the consumers, however, the CDM service will be for 24*7. In
case of fire accidents, easy handling of power is allowed. This system helps to save
paper and all the data will be stored in the database so that a soft copy can be generated
as on required [5].

5 Originality and Outcomes

This is a smart way of using technology to reduce manpower and increase work
efficiency and accuracy without any malpractices. Here the work is the outcome of
smart devices.
• Low cost and efficient in billing.
• Reduces paper wastage.
• It can be implemented in rural, remote areas.
• Reduces most of the manpower.
• Prevents most of the malpractices done by consumers.
• Automatic (programmed) penalties and punishments will be implemented which
reduces revenue loss to DISCOMs.
• Power consumption and charges can be monitored through display on a meter.
• Direct implementation of new charges (per unit) from a server.
• The immediate power supply can be stopped from server in-case of fire accidents.
• The regular alerting system of bill payments through recorded calls and messages.
• User-friendly.
160 P. Pramod Kumar and K. Sagar

6 Conclusion and Future Scope

In this world of technology, a smart way of solving a problem is the most necessary
task. This methodology will bring a solution for the wastage of high manpower,
inefficient and inaccurate billing, abundantly increased malpractices, irregular pay-
ments in electricity billing departments. Proper implementation of bills, taxes will
enhance the nation’s economy. If the government is interested to make it through
online payments on mobile application can be built or an updated version of the present
available Mobile application can be developed this helps in making the transaction
more easier. This Mobile application should help to file complaints, apply for new
Meter connections, etc.…

References
1. Mohale VP, Hingmire AG, Babar DG (2015) Ingenious energy monitoring, control, and
management of electrical supply. In: 2015 international conference on energy systems and
applications, Pune, pp 254–257
2. Kanthimathi K et al (2015) GSM based automatic electricity billing system. Int J Adv Res
Trends Eng Technol (IJARTET) 2(7):16–21
3. Mahajan K, Jaybhave D, Nagpure N, Shirsat B (2016) A novel method for automatic
electricity billing system using Ad-Hoc networks. In: 2016 international conference on
global trends in signal processing, information computing and communication (ICGT-
SPICC), Jalgaon, pp 539–542
4. Merza AM, Nasr MS (2015) Electrical energy billing system based on smart meter and
GSM. Int J Appl Eng Res 10:42003–42012
5. Rastogi S, Sharma M, Varshney P (2016) Internet of Things based smart electricity meters.
Int J Comput Appl (0975 – 8887) 133(8):13–16
6. Rathnayaka MRMSB, Jayasinghe IDS et al (2013) Mobile based electricity billing system
(MoBEBIS). Int J Sci Res Publ 3(4):1–5. ISSN: 2250-3153
7. Tamarkin TD (1992) Automatic meter reading. Public Power Mag 50(5):934–937
8. Jain A, Kumar D, Kedia J (2012) Smart and intelligent GSM based automatic meter reading
system. Int J Eng Res Technol (IJERT) 2(3):1–6. ISSN: 2278-0181
9. “Handbook for Electricity Metering” by The Edison Electric Institute, The Bible of electric
meters, continuously updated since electricity was discovered
10. Shoults RR, Chen MS, Domijan A (1987) The energy systems research center electric power
system simulation laboratory and energy management system control center. IEEE Power
Eng Rev PER-7(2):49–50
11. Rawat N, Rana S, Yadav B, Yadav N (2016) A review paper on the automatic energy meter
reading system. In: 2016 3rd international conference on computing for sustainable global
development (INDIACom), New Delhi, pp 3254–3257

View publication stats