Now, SMS to recharge power supply in HP

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

State-run Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) has just started trials on 750 metres installed in the three major towns of the hill state.

"If these trials are successful we could start selling pre-paid electricity recharge cards to cover more areas in the state," said Anurag Parashar, spokesman of the HPSEB, here.

"This is being done to avoid loss of power due to pilferage and to put an end to the problem of over-, or under-billing. And this also precludes the problem of consumers standing in queues to pay power dues," he added.

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

This is currently being tried in Shimla, Dharamsala and Mandi towns.

When the scheme is available more widely those applying for the pre-paid power card facility will also have to install special electricity metres to avail this high-tech service.

If provided on a large scale this could help the fund starved HPSEB save a lot of loss of revenue due to several reasons.

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

But often linesman do not visit each village or hamlet in the hard mountain terrain. Stealing power is also common by tampering with metres in the rural areas.

If the new scheme is provided by the HPSEB in a big way it could mark a major step towards reforming the state power board.

Himachal accounts for a quarter of the hydel power potential of the country. Only a quarter of this has been tapped so far by both state-run and private companies.