By Ifham Nizam

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will update the electricity bill issuing system soon and introduce three new methods instead of issuing pre-printed bills The Island learns that these systems will be first imposed upon consumers in some parts of the Colombo City.

“The CEB has taken steps to introduce three new methods instead of issuing pre-printed bills,” said Acting General Manager Engineer. D.C.R. Abeysekara.

He said that if some customers wanted some kind of physical bill, this bill would be issued to them during monthly bill reading. This is the existing system, he said.However, among the new methods introduced is sending bills by Short Message (SMS). “After reading the monthly bill, the bill will be sent to the telephone number registered with CEB through a short message (SMS). To register for this, you can get the support of the CEB representative who will visit the premises to read the meter. Or you can register yourself by texting 1987 with “REG<space> ten digit electricity account number,” he said.

Abeysekara said that the second new method was to use the CEBCare Mobile App. “With this facility you will receive the bill after through the CEBCare friendly mobile app. The other new method is issuance of e-bills by e-mail,” he said.

These three new methods of issuing bills were introduced as a part of the “CEB Assist” programme, which aimed to provide a more efficient customer service as well as to computerize corporate. The necessary technical arrangements were currently being made, the CEB said, adding that it was not possible to preprint and distribute electricity bills due to the current shortage of paper, and the new methods would not only enhance efficiency but also help save more than a billion rupees per year on printing.