Smart Utility & Power Distribution Gandhinagar, India

GIFT Power Company Limited

Centralized Billing & Accounting, Android-Based Meter Reading,
and Automated Tariff Management for a World-Class Smart City Utility

99.99%

Power Reliability

Android App

Handheld Meter Reading

1-Click Printing

Mass Billing Dispatch

Automated

Delayed Interest

About the Client

About GIFT PCL

GIFT Power Company Limited (GIFT PCL) is the licensed power distribution utility for the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Operating in India's first operational smart city and International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), which hosts over 1,190 registered entities with cumulative banking assets exceeding $100 billion, GIFT PCL delivers highly reliable power through a state-of-the-art 33KV dual-feed utility tunnel infrastructure ensuring N-1 redundancy and 99.99% reliability. Electricity tariffs and distribution norms are regulated by the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC).

To replace manual, spreadsheet-based metering and invoicing workflows, GIFT PCL partnered with SerpentCS (Serpent Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd., a global Odoo Gold Partner founded in 2011 and headquartered in Gandhinagar, Gujarat) to deploy Odoo as a centralized billing, bookkeeping, and consumer management platform integrated with a handheld Android utility application.

Industry

Power & Energy Distribution

Odoo Version

Custom Odoo Utility Suite

Location

Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

Products

Odoo Billing, Invoicing & Android App

Business Challenges

Challenges Before Odoo

Manual Excel & Paper Billing

Meter readings were recorded manually on paper sheets and manually key-entered into Excel sheet systems, creating double work and data inconsistencies.

Fluctuating Tariff Configuration

Tariffs fluctuate based on natural resources and fuel pricing under GERC guidelines, causing difficulty in manual calculations and billing delays.

Complex Interest & Cash Operations

Calculating delayed payment interest, tracking partial vs full payments, and managing total receivables caused cashier errors.

Disconnected Customer Notifications

No automated customer communication existed, leading to missed billing notifications and delayed payment collections.

Our Solution

How SerpentCS Solved It

SerpentCS proposed and implemented Odoo as a centralized billing, accounting, and bookkeeping system integrated with a dedicated Android utility application.

Centralized Billing & Accounting ERP configured Odoo as the single source of truth for billing, accounting, and customer contract bookkeeping.

Android Meter Reading Application developed a custom Android app for field staff to record readings directly from meters and instantly upload data.

Automated Tariff Computation Engine customized Odoo to dynamically select tariffs, assign meters, and calculate complex multi-head charges based on GERC rules.

Dynamic Delayed Payment Interest automated computation of interest on late payments, simplifying calculations for cashier teams.

Meter Lifecycle State Manager added workflows to track meter states (normal, buggy, burned, stopped, power cut, and resumed).

Instant SMS & Email Alerts configured automatic email and SMS notifications triggered immediately upon monthly bill generation.

Key Implementations

Android Utility App

GERC Tariff Engine

Delayed Payment Interest

Meter State Workflows

1-Click Mass Invoicing

SMS & Email Gateway

Central Document Storage

Odoo Accounting Integration

Key Results

Business Impact

Eliminated Double Work

Field meter readings recorded on the Android app auto-generate customer bills in Odoo, eliminating manual data entry.

Accelerated Billing Cycles

Billing staff can verify and print all customer bills in mass with a single click, maximizing team efficiency.

Accurate Delayed Calculations

Automated delayed interest calculations reduced errors at cash counters and improved bookkeeping accuracy.

Enhanced Customer Intimations

Intimations via automated SMS and email ensure clients are notified instantly, shortening payment collection times.

Centralized Customer Storage

Storing documents and contract proofs under client profiles allows cashier and bookkeeping staff to access them from anywhere.

“

SerpentCS proposed and developed a brilliant centralized billing system. The Android app allowed our field team to record meter readings directly, which automatically generated error-free bills and notified customers via SMS and email. Our billing and accounting workflows have never been so relaxed and efficient. "