Ludhiana, Feb. 12 -- A shift to a new billing software has impacted the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited's (PSPCL) ability to generate bills, especially those of high-revenue-generating industrial units, impacting cash inflows. People aware of the matter in the PSPCL said that the earlier bill generation was stalled for residential and non-residential connections as well, but since then, the issue has been sorted. However, the glitches have particularly affected the timely generation of electricity bills for medium and large-scale industrial consumers with sanctioned loads above 20 kW in areas where the new billing system has been implemented. The issue started as the PSPCL moved to Oracle's cloud-based Single Billing Solution in January, ditching the older SAP system. The SAP system was shut down on December 27 to facilitate migration to the new Oracle-based platform. However, the full implementation of the new billing system was completed only on January 29. The new billing software was rolled out in Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar and Bathinda in January as part of a phased implementation plan, with Ludhiana scheduled for rollout in two phases in February and March. All the areas, including Patiala, Bathinda and Jalandhar, have reported difficulties in bill generation, with many residential consumers reporting that they haven't received a bill since November. Following persistent glitches, the expansion in Ludhiana has been temporarily stalled. "PSPCL has migrated to a new billing system for the following areas, including their nearby areas and sub-areas: Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Batala, Tarn Taran, Mohali, Zirakpur, Barnala, Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Moga, Abohar, Fazilka, Giddarbaha, Malout, Mukatsar, Khanna, Ropar, Qadian, Sirhind, Kharar, Malerkotla, Rajpura. Please use the new app (PSPCL Consumer App) for all billing-related Services. For Complaint-related Services, use this existing app (PSPCL Consumer Services)," reads the new alert on the old PSPCL application. The issue was formally flagged during a board of directors meeting held on February 6. A senior PSPCL official in the South Zone, requesting anonymity, said, "Operations under the SAP software were shut down here on December 27, while complete implementation of the Oracle-based billing solution was carried out only on January 29. During this period, electricity bills were not generated. Billing has recently resumed after data migration, but at present, we are generating bills only for residential and non-residential connections. Industrial billing is yet to stabilise." The official further stated that while new electricity connections are being released, technical glitches in the new software are preventing the generation of meter change orders, stalling the replacement of faulty meters. Similarly, applications for the installation and release of solar bidirectional meters are also pending due to system errors. PSPCL director (distribution) Inderpal Singh acknowledged the issue and said most of the issues have been resolved. "We have been facing certain glitches in the newly rolled out software. However, most of these issues have now been resolved. Since the overall implementation and technical supervision of the unified portal is being carried out under the chief engineer (IT), Sukhwinder Singh, he will be the best authorised officer to share detailed information regarding the remaining technical aspects and progress." Sukhwinder Singh attributed the glitches to teething troubles and assured that they were working to resolve the issues. "As the software is in its initial phase, some issues are being faced. These will be fixed within a day or two. PSPCL shifted its electricity billing software from SAP to Oracle under DS South/East/Border Zone. During the data migration process, electricity billing was temporarily halted last month. The new billing system is now live, and data migration has been successfully completed,' he said....