PANAJI: In a bid to save the consumers from paying accumulated water bills at a time, the public works department has undertaken the process of spot-billing of domestic water consumption in Panaji.
Though majority of consumers under the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) have been covered under the new billing system, areas of Taleigao and Ribandar are yet to receive spot-billing.
Speaking to this daily, executive engineer Dileep Dhavalikar informed that in order to avoid delayed billing, the department has commenced spot-billing system. “Earlier, the billing cycle was minimum 45 days and could extend upto 68 days and in few cases 86 days. But the spot-billing process has reduced the billing cycle and bills are raised to consumers every 35 days,” he stated.
He further informed that around 10,000 consumers have already been covered under spot-billing system and are receiving the bills every 35 days.
However, he said that the process gets extended in some cases due to the payment schedules and process. He said, “When a consumer pays the bill at the counter, it is submitted to the central account and then it flashes on the consumer’s account, which is a tedious process. While doing so a lot of time is consumed and therefore sometimes the spot-billing too would extend to 45 days.”
When it was brought to the notice that some consumers in Taleigao have been receiving the bills over a billing cycle of 68 days, he said that areas under Taleigao and Ribandar are yet to be covered under the spot-billing process.
Dhavalikar further said that though the cycle is of more than a month and in some cases two months, the bills are auto generated calculating the consumption of water on a monthly basis.
“Consumers need not fear of being at loss as the calculations are made by the programmed systems on a monthly basis,” he added. Consumers, however, are advised to contact the assistant engineer of the area for any clarifications on the billing process, he added.
Currently, Goa government charges its domestic consumers Rs 2.50 per cubic meter for consumption upto 15 cubic meters and Rs 5 per cubic meter for consumption between 15 and 25 cubic meters. Rs 10 per cubic meter is charged for consumption of water between 25 and 50 cubic meters and Rs 15 per cubic meter is charged on every cubic meter above 50.