Shimla, January 1:

You can soon recharge your electricity supply in Himachal Pradesh by purchasing a pre-paid power card and activate it by simply sending an SMS.

The state-run Himachal Pra-desh State Electricity Board (H-PSEB) — of the Indian state of Himachal — has started trials on 750 meters installed in Shi-mla, Mandi and Dharamsala.

“If these trials are successful, we could start selling pre-paid electricity recharge cards to cover more areas,” said HPSEB spokesman Anurag Parashar, “This is being done to avoid loss of power due to pilferage and also for the benefit of the consumer doing away with problems like excess or under billing. This would also put an end to standing in long queues to pay the bills.”

The pre-paid electricity cards will be made available at HPSEB outlets. The consumer will feed the 20-digit code along with the amount of the card on his mobile and SMS it to the HPSEB to activate the supply, explain officials.

When the scheme is widely implemented, those applying for the pre-paid power card facility will also have to install special electricity meters to avail themselves of this high-tech service.

If provided on a large scale, this could help the fund-starved HPSEB save considerable revenue.

The board has been laying power cables and electric poles apart from installing other infrastructure across the hill state, where 90 per cent of the population lives in villages.