Archives: May 27, 2014

Gated communities and Apartments having Metered Utilities (like Piped Gas, Water Meters) face this issue every month when they are ready to raise utility bills on members – capturing of Meter Readings and then raising bills.

There is too much of manual work involved in capturing the meter reading. Typical steps involve:

1. Maintenance staff go door-to-door to note down the readings in a log book. This itself is usually takes few days based on the size of the community.

2. The readings noted will now have to be digitized and entered into excel and upload or into the portal one by one. This is a place where quite a few issues can crop up with respect to data entry – illegible readings, typos while entering.

3. Raise Bills. (This is a breeze if you are using ApnaComplex)

4. Now starts the disputes by members – the bill is incorrect, reading is incorrect – largely due to the data entry errors that crept in and more importantly due to lack of validation from concerned members when the meter reading was taken.

In ApnaComplex you can address issues like these with the enhanced Metered Utility Billing module (which is part of the Society Accounting Software).

We now have Metered Utility App available as a part of ApnaComplex Android Application.

With the help of the Metered Utility on Android App:

1. Maintenance staff can now move with in the complex / layout with a mobile device (android phone / tablet) when they go door-to-door for collecting the reading.

2. The closing meter reading can be noted against each plot / flat with in the App. The app instantly sends an SMS to the resident confirming the meter reading noted down by the staff. If there is a discrepancy or error the resident an instantly alert the staff or the maintenance office about inaccurate reading. The staff can then re-enter the reading.

3. Once the data collection is done, the society office can validate the data and raise the bills. The meter readings can be overridden if needed by the society office before raising the bills.

Less disputes and more peace of mind.

Now for the icing on the cake:
The meter reading app works even with out internet! This has the capability to store all the readings locally on the device and push the readings to server when ever internet connectivity is available.

This takes care of the cases where internet / GPRS connection may not be easily available across the complex consistently.

ApnaComplex is India’s most mature and comprehensive web based society management platform. The platform also include Utility Billing Software for Housing Societies to easily generate bills for the members of the society against their Flats / Villas / Shops for their consumption of water / gas / energy etc. ApnaComplex is designed to make the life of treasurers a lot better by reducing efforts and at the same time bringing in more transparency and accountability in managing finances of a housing society. Check out the features of ApnaComplex and sign up your society today to get the benefits! We offer a free 15-day trial as well so that you can try before you buy!