To launch pre-paid power cards

After pre-paid mobile phones, now it’s pre-paid power cards. Power consumers of BSES (now known as Reliance Energy) in the city suburbs may get the option of pre-paid cards. Well that’s exactly what will be on anvil in the power sector soon to check huge losses incurred due to unpaid electricity bills and also provide more options to the customers. With a pre-paid card electric meter, all that a consumer will have to do is just buy the card from his power company and insert it in the meter like a floppy. And how does the consumer benefit? Just like he benefits in the case of the pre-paid mobile card: by keeping his bills under check. If you still are a sceptic, digest this: In Delhi, one out of every three customers does not pay electricity bill which leads to a revenue loss of Rs 800 crore. Not only that, these unpaid customers, who total almost ten lakh, consume a total of 600 MW of power every year. “A pre-paid power meter is one way to check these huge losses,” says BSES chairman Anil Ambani. Although, he’s not sure when these cards will be introduced, Ambani believes that Mumbai will soon be able to get pre-paid meters. In fact, consumers in Madhya Pradesh could be the first to use pre-paid cards as the state electricity board is looking at introducing pilot projects for the same soon.