AWERProcedia

Information Technology
& Computer Science
2 (2012) 384-390

2nd World Conference on Innovation and Computer Sciences 2012

Smart Online Electrical Billing Management System using GSM

(SOEBIMS)

a a b
A. Noraziah *, Wong Ying Yin , Ahmed N Abdalla , Chang Kwee Ming
a
Faculty of Computer Systems & Software Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
b
Faculty of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
Lebuhraya Tun Razak, 26300 Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang, MALAYSIA

Abstract

Nowadays the billing system integrated with smart meter is used by staffs, residents and those who use electricity to retrieve
the price rate and meter value of power consumption. There are several billing system integrated with smart meter invented
in Italy, Sweden, UK, USA and so on. However, the current metering system in Malaysia is not capable to measure variable
time price and it is gradually replaced by digital or smart meters. The purpose of this study is to develop a prototype of Smart
Online Electrical Billing Management System using GSM (SOEBIMS). SOEBIMS is an online web application with implements
client-server approach as it can reduce human errors and save time to key in the data from keyboard. SOEBIMS helps to
retrieve the real time meter value ia GSM a d se d it to usto e ’s o ile pho e th ough GSM. The staffs allo odifyi g
the a ia le pa kage p i e i spe ifi du atio . The ad i ist ato a a alyze the usto e ’s po e o su ptio data a d
generate the report from the data online. The prototype is developed using waterfall model as the prototype can be
implement and develop by followed the sequential phases. The prototype will be able to introduce the billing system to the
customers, get the power consumption data from smart meter, keep the data in centralized database and generate the
report. It will help the user to access the data and report easily through online.

Keywords: billing system; smart meter; power consumption; real time data; variable package price; waterfall model

Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Dogan Ibrahim.

© 2 Academic World Education & Research Center. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Since 19th century the monitoring of electricity is performed using electromechanical meters or
electrical meters. Even though these meter are a master art of engineering designed a hundred of years
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: A.Noraziah, Faculty of Computer Systems & Software Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
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ago measuring in kWh but still they are not capable to measure new rates structures i.e. variable time
pricing and are unable to provide awareness to user about his consumption pattern. In traditional
monitoring, human labor i.e. a lineman plays a significant role in collecting and managing field data.
This process always has chances of human error. The current metering system in Malaysia is not
capable to measure variable time price and it is gradually replaced by digital or smart meters.
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is the largest electricity utility company in Malaysia RM71.4 billion
worth in assets and also the largest power company in Southeast Asia with MYR 69.8 billion worth of
assets [1]. It serves over seven million customers throughout Peninsular Malaysia and also the eastern
state of Sabah through Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd [2]. TNB's core activities are in the generation,
transmission and distribution of electricity. Other activities include repairing, testing and maintaining
power plants, providing engineering, procurement and construction services for power plants related
products, assembling and manufacturing high voltage switchgears, coal mining and trading. Operations
are carried out in Malaysia, Mauritius, Pakistan, India and Indonesia [3]. Malaysia in 2007 signed a deal
with International metering supplier company for installation of a number of smart meters that was
expected to be a move towards technology in metering infra-structure [4].
Smart Online Electrical Billing Management System using GSM (SOEBIMS) is an online system that
keeps t a k of usto e ’s po e o su ptio y usi g GSM. GSM is o e of the digital o u i atio
technologies, which is known as data transmission system [5] that allow sending and receiving voice
and data services at anywhere and anytime [6]. By usi g GSM, the syste a e ei e the usto e ’s
power consumption information hourly. The smart meter sends the meter reading to centralize
database via GSM. This avoids manual intervention during meter reading and provides more accurate,
real-time data to the company [7]. It helps the staffs to manage the billing statement easily. The
report generation of power consumption by hourly allows customers to be aware of the power usage
and it can help the customers to reduce cost by planning the usage of the electrical appliances. The
system uses the variable package price rate to do calculation, so it allows saving time for entering the
meter value and help to reduce human error made as the system is done automatically and more
accuracy. This system also allows the TNB staffs to monitor and modify the variable package price rate
based on the peak hour without hiring programmers to modify the system

2. Related Works

For recently, there are some countries are trying to integrate the system with smart meter, which
are Sweden, Italy, Netherlands. As the smart meter able to record the unit of electricity used in hourly.
In Sweden, the government grab the opportunities for energy savings and wanted to exploit the
potential benefits, thus they invested the system with the smart meter. It is also applied to those
others countries. As their purpose is to reduce the cost of electricity and retrieve the actual energy
used.

2.1 A Study on Existing Systems

Table 1: The comparison of Existing system with different type of billing system, advantages and disadvantages

 Other  Windows  Windows

Features ASI EasiBill System Rural Billing System BillMaster System

 Web Based
Platform

 United States  United States  United States

 Canada  Canada
Location
Served
 United Kingdom  Latin America
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  Australia

Europe

 Allow to view billing  

Australia

 
Advantages Allow to view billing history Allow to view billing history

 Have customer database  

history Have customer database Have customer database

 Have handheld meter 

Have handheld meter Have handheld meter reading

 
reading Allow to customize

 Flexibility 
reading

Have report generate Have report generate


Monthly billing preview Easier to use than Rural Billing

   The most expensive compare to

Easy to use System


Disadvantages Expensive More expensive than EasiBill

 
Simple database system EasiBill System and Rural Billing
System
 
Do not have reporting Mobile not allow to access


Mobile not allow to access Cannot be customized
Cannot be customized

2.2 Tariff Rate Calculation

The price calculation of an appliance able to estimate by followed two steps as shown below:-
Step1: Wattage * hours used / 1000 = kilowatt hours (kWh)
Step2: Kilowatt hours * cost per kilowatt hour
Example of refrigerator (300 watts per hour) used for one month (24hours * 30days = 720hours)
without turn off the power. To estimate the price of power usage of refigerator in one month as
shown in below:-
300 (watts) * 720hours / 1000 = 216 kWh
216 (kWh) * RM0.218 = RM47.09 per month

3. Methodology

The methodology of this project development is the Waterfall Model Methodologies. Firstly, to
gathe use e ui e e ts a d to i ease de elope ’s o p ehe sio o esea h a ea. Then, carried
out to model user requirements into detailed computer-based specification. At system and software
design stage, architectural design, database and interface design were developed. After the
implementation, each module was tested as a unit to ensure the system fulfils business and design
requirements. Waterfall model is chosen because it is an incremental series, first delivery with less
cost and time. It conducted using fact-finding techniques, which are conducted an interview with
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) staff, the sampling of existing documentation and also observation the
process of customer registration. SOEBIMS develops by using incremental waterfall model because it
is easy to understand and users are able to get access to the product at the end of each cycle. The
users provide feedback on the product for the planning stage of the next cycle and the development
team responds, often by changing the product, plans, or process. This incremental cycle able to
continue until the product is shipped.
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New customer information 0

New customer information
Rejected new customer info.
UserID and Password Rejected new customer info.
Customer Information
Admin
Customer Information
Unsuccessful Verified
Bill request Staff Information
Customer Bill Information
Payment
SOEBIMS New customer information
Rejected new customer info.
Paid Bill
UserID and Password
Request report Staff Information
Report details Unsuccessful Verified Staff
Customer Information Fixed Tariff Rate
Staff Information

Consumed Units

Meter

Fig. 1. Context Diagram for SOEBIMS

Soebims is designed to interact with the database by using Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). This
database design is most frequently used because it generates a simple data form for each relation and
for many-to-many relationships [8, 9, 10]. A database management system allows an organization to
structure its information so those users can retrieve data in a dynamic manner as well as to prevent
users against unauthorized access [11, 12, 13]. SOEBIMS is divided into 4 modules, which are Admin
Module, Staff Module, Customer Module and Meter Module. Process modeling for SOEBIMS
represented using DFD, shows the hierarchical of SOEBIMS has divided business processes linked by
data flows. Context DFD as shown in Fig. 2 shows the system overview of SOEBIMS, where it includes
the system boundaries, entities that interact with SOEBIMS and information flow between the entities
and SOEBIMS. There are 4 entities as shown in the context DFD, which are Admin, Staff, Customer and
Meter. These 4 entities depict the users of SOEBIMS and show data flows between the users and
SOEBIMS

4. Implementation

In this section, it shows the implementation of SOEBIMS. There are three specifications that we
need to significant to study, which are tariff rate, meter reading, bill payment. Table below explain the
system interface:
Table 2: Explanation of the System Interface
Modules Details
Section I – Register Customer register new customer by supplying customer information to SOEBIMS.
Customer Besides, admin and staff can help to register customer as well if they wish to receive
information through mobile phone. Customer information is recorded into table
Customer.
Section II – Validate Login User login to SOEBIMS by supplying userID and password. SOEBIMS compares the
validity of inserted userID and password with login credentials stored in table
Customer.
Section III – Set Tariff The tariff rate is set and updated by the staff and stores it into the database for
Rate calculating bill purpose.
Section IV – Read Meter The meter value consumption of each customer stores into database in hourly.

Section V – Generate Bill The bill statement provides to the customers where they requested and it allows
Payment them to make payment.
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SOEBIMS consists of three types of modules include Admin Module, Staff Module and Customer
Module. However, those 3 interfaces are using 1 master login page to verify and access to the
particular module.

Fig. 2. Account Information Page (Customer Module)

Fig. 3. Bill History Page (Customer Module)

Fig. 4. Self Meter Reading Page (Customer Module)

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Fig. 5. Check Status and Make Payment Page (Admin and Staff Module)

5. Results and Discussion

The software used to develop this project is MS. Visual Studio 2008 and MS. SQL 2008. The system
was fully implemented in C# programming language to manipulate the database. It has been fully
implemented and met all the objective of this project, which are:
a) To develop an online system to manage electrical billing for the administrator and customer.
b) To collect power consumption information and integrate with centralized database system via
GSM device.
c) To calculate the electrical bill and generate a report on the power consumption information
through online.

Fig. 6. Analysis of the time vs power consumption of a single day. Fig. 7. The analysis of the time vs
price of a single day.

The analysis above is given the awareness of customers about the power consumption, so they
able to save and reduce the use of electricity. Besides, it able to provide the feedback analysis for
staffs to monitor the peak load management of the power consumption in precisely. So, the staffs able
to manage and try to control and provide motivation for those customers in order to reduce the use of
electric.

6. Conclusion

Smart Online Electrical Billing Management System (SOEBIMS) is an online web application
hi h is de eloped fo the pu pose to edu e hu a e o s a d sa e ti e fo fi di g the usto e ’s
particular details. Customers allow receiving or viewing the personal information, meter value with
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price rate through online application. Besides, it is also give awareness to customers of the unit
consumption with the price in hourly. The staff needs to setup and configure the GSM device in
o de to et ie e the eal ti e ete alue a d se d it to usto e ’s obile phone. The centralized
server keeps the database, and allows more than one client access at the same time, while data
integrity is maintained and data redundancy is avoided. The web application is chosen to access the
data easily from anywhere at any time and it is very convenience for everyone.

References

[1] TNB. (2011). Corporate Profile. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from Tenaga Nasional Berhad:
http://www.tnb.com.my/about-tnb/corporate-profile.html
[2] Yahoo Inc. (2011). Tenaga Nasional Berhad Company Profile . Retrieved 25 October, 2011, from Yahoo
Finance: http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/47/47489.html
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenaga_Nasional
[4] AMI and Smart Metering NEWS. 2007. Accessed on October 2011.
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