A new CESC metering system in the works promises to remove common customer peeves such as inflated electricity bills and turnaround time after someone reports a power cut.

The company, which supplies electricity to 29 lakh-odd homes in Calcutta and parts of Howrah and Hooghly, is working on a cutting-edge metering system that not only allows people to track their daily power consumption online but also reports problems to the control room before the first call comes to the customer service desk.

CESC has started installing smart meters at select locations across its network, mainly hospitals, pumping stations, educational institutions, government offices and street lights.

"The advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is part of CESC's stated intent to become the customer's preferred service provider, although there is no competition as such. The company is focusing on strengthening its transmission and distribution network to reduce downtime," Aniruddha Basu, managing director of CESC, told Metro.

For the consumer, the immediate benefit would be the availability of consumption details online, just like a mobile phone bill with voice and data-use details. All that a subscriber has to do to access this information is log onto the CESC website. The details would include a demand graph to show when power consumption was highest and lowest over a 24-hour period.

The idea is to help the consumer ration electricity consumption based on requirement and also eliminate the element of surprise - shock, in some cases - when the bill arrives. "I have often had doubts about my electricity bill. It will be good if the company rolls out smart meters for all consumers," said B.N. Majumder, a resident of south Calcutta.

The new meter comes with a mobile SIM that transmits data to the consumer as well as the company.

In the event of a power cut, the service provider would automatically get to know about it even before a consumer calls, saving time to troubleshoot the problem.

"Nothing could be more annoying than arriving home to a power snag late at night and having to dial the call centre. It would be wonderful if electricity were restored before I come to know of the power cut!" said Sarbani Mitra, an executive in a city-based company.

While there is no immediate plan to replace all 29 lakh-plus meters, CESC isn't averse to considering a consumer's request for a smart meter, sources said.

"In future, we will extend the service to all sections of our consumers. It may not happen just tomorrow but this is the direction the company has taken. AMI technology is evolving and the cost of the smart meters is coming down," said Avijit Ghosh, vice-president of distribution services at CESC.

Apart from relaying consumption details in realtime and automatically reporting snags to the service provider, smart meters are devices that can be programmed to provide service for a specific time.

For instance, street lights would automatically switch on and off at the pre-programmed times. Usage can be tweaked, depending on the season.

In future, a consumer would be able to send a mail to the power utility, asking it to switch off the connection for a specific period such as a holiday, Ghosh said.