Background
In one of India’s most ambitious utility transformation projects, the largest power distribution company of Eastern India has successfully redefined operational efficiency and consumer service delivery through Fluentgrid’s comprehensive utility suite, funded by the World Bank.
This digital leap spans:
40
Million Population
6.4
Million Consumers
79716
Sq. Km
24
Districts Covered
Business Challenges
The utility faced hurdles typical of public utilities transitioning from legacy systems:
- Disparate Billing Platforms: Multiple separate billing systems across regions created consumer inconvenience, lack of uniformity, and no centralized reporting.
- Disconnected Processes: Non-integrated systems for new connections, payments, and grievance redressal resulted in missing consumers and revenue leakage.
- Payment Reconciliation Delays: Multiple payment channels made financial reconciliation complex and error-prone.
- Limited Customer Care Reach: Call centers served only a fraction of the consumer base, with long wait times and poor escalation.
Solution Delivered
Fluentgrid deployed its integrated utility suite across the state, ensuring centralized management, transparency, and accountability:
- Unified Billing Platform (MBC, CIS, CRM): Statewide coverage with real-time billing, monitoring, and centralized reporting.
- AMI & Prepaid Solutions: Over 3.25 lakh consumers migrated to prepaid smart meters, with features like remote disconnection/reconnection and digital payments.
- Customer Care & CRM: Statewide 24×7 centralized call center with escalation matrix, reduced average wait time from >60 sec to 20 sec.
- System Integration: Seamless interoperability with SAP S/4 HANA, GIS, SCADA, and legacy systems.
- Analytics & Dashboards (Fluentgrid Insight): Real-time BI, KPIs, forecasting, and grievance tracking.
- Asset & Resource Management: Fixed Asset Register (FAR) integrated with ERP for lifecycle management, compliance, and GIS-based asset mapping.
- Power Procurement Optimization: Decision-support tools for optimal surrender and procurement planning, saving 17.7 Cr during festive season 2024.
Results Achieved
With the deployment of Fluentgrid’s solutions, Utility has reported measurable improvements in operations, transparency, and service delivery:
- 100% Consumer Coverage: All consumers brought under one unified system with uniform billing and transparency.
- Improved Efficiency: Billing efficiency rose from 68% (Sep’24) to 77.3% (Aug’25); collection efficiency jumped from 64% to 86.56% in the same period.
- Revenue Protection: Prepaid meters reduced billing disputes, enabled load forecasting, and lowered AT&C losses from 32% to 21%.
- Enhanced Customer Experience: Faster grievance redressal, reduced call center wait times, flexible digital payment options, and consumer self-care apps.
- Grid Reliability: Smart feeder metering improved outage detection, energy accounting, and reduced downtime.
- Asset Governance: FAR implementation strengthened financial compliance, planning, and operational control.
Conclusion
This large-scale transformation demonstrates the power of integrated, scalable digital solutions to modernize utility operations. By partnering with Fluentgrid, the largest distribution company of Eastern India improved efficiency, accountability, and consumer trust while serving over 40 Million Population.
This landmark project stands as a replicable model for utilities worldwide, showcasing how digital innovation can drive financial sustainability, consumer empowerment, and energy reliability in emerging economies.
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