Kathmandu, May 30

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has developed a mobile application whereby any customer can read the electricity meter installed at their house and pay their bill online.

This new initiative has been developed by the power utility due to the fear of the coronavirus infection spreading and nationwide lockdown as a result of which NEA meter readers have not been able to visit customers’ houses to do the needful.

Customers will soon be able to download the application through which they can read their meters and pay the bill online, informed Kul Man Ghising, managing director of NEA.

“All customers are requested to pay the tariff online by reading the meter themselves and get a discount on timely payment,” he said, adding, “Before reading the meter, the customer has to go through some technical processes on the app.”

At present, three types of meters are installed in customers’ houses. Ghising said that meter reading should be done based on that. “The payment process can be started by entering the first four digits of the meter on the application,” he added.

As per him, NEA is going to introduce the mobile application from Tuesday to make its service more convenient and effective. Ghising further claimed that after the online technology is introduced, it will be easier for customers to read the meters and make payments.

To use this app, customers need to first register their details. After that, customers can log in by entering their mobile number and password.

According to Ghising, customers need to enter their actual meter number in the online meter reading system. If there is any misuse in the current meter number, action will be taken as per the Distribution Regulations of NEA.

At present, NEA has about four million customers across the nation. Of these, 40 per cent are industrial and the rest are domestic and other customers. As the industrial estates are completely closed, the online meter reading system is likely to be used only for households or other groups.

NEA is working to digitise all the activities connected with the customers. In the next phase, areas including power houses, substations and load centres will also be automated, said Ghising.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 31, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.