PSPCL billing shift disrupts Rs 200cr cash flow, consumers face delays

Patiala: The cash-strapped Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has suffered a disruption in cash flow amounting to nearly Rs 200 crore following delays in issuing electricity bills during its transition to a new billing platform.The delay occurred as PSPCL shifted from its legacy SAP system to Oracle's cloud-based billing solution. The move was aimed at modernising the utility's IT infrastructure and improving revenue management. However, the transition period proved challenging for both staff and consumers.
Across several districts, consumers reported delays in receiving bills, unusually high bill amounts, incorrect arrears and difficulty in making digital payments. Industrial consumers, particularly medium and large-scale units, were among the worst affected in areas where the new system had gone live, leading to a temporary dent in collections. In January this year alone, around Rs 200 crore in cash flow was impacted.The migration was carried out in phases. The South Zone, covering Patiala, Barnala, Sangrur , Malerkotla and Mohali and Ropar of East zone shifted about 16.1 lakh consumers to the new system on January 23. The West Zone, including Bathinda and Ferozepur, went live for 26.7 lakh consumers on February 6. The Central Zone, including Ludhiana, and the North Zone together were expected to complete migration of over 50 lakh consumers by March 8. The Border Zone, including Amritsar and Tarn Taran, had an earlier scheduled go-live date of January 6 for 14.2 lakh consumers.With the SAP system decommissioned on December 27, 2025 and the Oracle rollout finalised around the end of January, bill generation in several areas came to a halt for more than a month. The disruption also affected the generation of meter change orders, delaying replacement of faulty meters and installation of bidirectional solar meters.The fallout was visible on the ground. Sub-divisions in cities such as Ludhiana and Patiala saw long queues of residents seeking manual corrections. Some households claimed their bills were significantly higher than usual, while others said they had not received any bill since November, raising concerns about accumulated dues.Chief engineer IT Sukhwinder Singh said there were no technical glitches in the software. He attributed the problems to officials not being fully familiar with the new system, adding that they were expected to adapt within days and that issues would be resolved within 15 days. He also cited a strike by meter readers, noting that newly appointed staff were handling the work but lacked experience, which slowed bill generation.Sukhwinder Singh confirmed that approximately 22 lakh smart meters have been installed across the state so far. He acknowledged that around Rs 200 crore in cash flow was affected last month but stated that the amount had been recovered during the first two weeks of February. He maintained that consumers were billed for the actual number of days of consumption and not charged inflated amounts.The matter was also flagged at a recent Board of Directors meeting, following which PSPCL initiated extensive training for technical staff in a bid to stabilise the system and restore consumer confidence.