Prior to the initiative, the meter reader of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation had to go to each connection for taking the reading from the meter. These water meter readings were entered manually at VOICE section and bills were generated. Then, the bill was issued to the customer. The process from the reading of meters to the issue of bills would take a minimum of 2 months, and the revenue recovery delayed by 3 to 4 months after the usage of water. The bills were issued bi-monthly and around 10-12 staff members were employed for this process. VMC has taken a proactive step of outsourcing the activity of water billing to a private agency who would issue the bills through spot billing.
The outsourcing of issuing of bills was implemented from Jan 2006. An agency was entrusted with the responsibility by duly inviting tenders. The firm had to procure the required number of hand-held terminals, and develop the software to suit the present tariff structure of VMC. The agency had deployed trained people for taking meter readings and issuing the bills at the doorstep of the consumer. An additional charge of Rs. 12 per bill is charged to the customer, which covers the fees of the spot billing agency for issuing the bills and e-seva centers for the collection of the bills.

• Due to implementation of spot billing, the delay in issue of bills and collection was reduced
• The bills were issued monthly
• Considerable savings in time, staff etc
• Simplified the billing procedure
• Bill-paying facilities made easy and accessible through e-seva counters
• The services of existing water meter readers were utilized for improving the collections thus increasing the revenues of the corporation
• Less burden on the corporation for issuing the bills
• No additional costs for outsourcing as the corporation is recovering agency's fees from customers

The initiative will be sustainable only if the process is managed efficiently with stringent procedures, effective customer awareness campaigns and teamwork. There is no mention about bill collection efficiency, which is very critical for sustainability. Can be well replicated, and considerable savings in time can be achieved.

For further details, contact:

Mr. Gulzar, IAS
Municipal Commissioner,
Vijayawada Municipal Corporation