Hyderabad: Electricity meters, which have been around for decades, somehow don't jell with today's slick personal digital assistants (PDAs). But a novel concept from the Central Power Distribution Company Ltd (CPDCL) of Andhra Pradesh brings them both together in a new spot-billing system (SBS).

SBS, which commenced as a pilot project on 1 July 2001, is aimed at helping the company's inspectors read electricity meters and issue bills instantly using PDAs.

The new system is instant - the traditional procedure involved five steps and took four to seven days. The company will also soon learn whether this method will improve productivity and reduce loss of revenue.

The company is eyeing other benefits, too, according to CPDCL director (commercial) S Surya Prakasa Rao. One is reducing the credit period for customers from three months to two.

The existing system of meter reading and billing is beset with problems. These not only result in a loss of revenue to the company, customers are also hassled by wrong meter readings, wrong billing and non-receipt of bills. The power distributor hopes to cut these anomalies out with its new billing system.

For the pilot project, the company is using eight PDAs - each costing Rs 18,000 - from Analogic Technomatics, Hyderabad. ''We are happy with the results of the project. We are now planning to expand the project in a phased manner,'' says Rao.

To make the PDA even more handy, it can be customised to the users' preferences using C language, says Analog Technolomatics manager (commercial) G Srinivas Reddy. Built with a high-speed processor, the device has a 256KB flash memory and a 128KB SRAM with battery backup.

These features are designed to meet the special requirements of the company. For instance, the high-speed, 24-column printers can print 420 bills on eight hours of a fully-charged battery.

''We have introduced SBS after a careful study of the various aspects of the existing system. The current system will improve our billing method effectively,'' says Rao. ''However, the existing system of collection of bills will also continue.''

The company is optimistic about the project. It had recently issued a tender for buying 1,000 handheld devices, still a fraction of its total requirement of 8,000 units. Though the company initiated SBS three years ago, the move was put on the backburner due to the huge costs involved, till July last year.

M Hanuman Sastry, chief engineer, electricity, project and information systems of CPDCL, says the costs of the projects have come down from three years ago.

The Andhra Pradesh state government has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as consultant for the IT projects implemented in government departments and enterprises. The main role of PwC is to identify the problems existing in the old systems of the company and suggest solutions to the government.

In fact, PwC has been appointed by the Andhra Pradesh government for consultancy in all its e-governance projects - right from designing a blueprint to finding the right solution from vendors.