The Eastern Power Distribution Company of AP Limited (APEPDCL) is thinking of introducing prepaid cards for buying power as in the telecom industry.

When contacted, an official from the EPDCL told this correspondent on Saturday that the EPDCL was currently working on the project, and had already invited tenders a few months ago, but these were not yet finalised.

“The company will also save money on employing casual workers such as meter readers, bill collectors, etc, besides preventing tampering of power bills,” the official added.

According to sources, the power consumer is supposed to insert the card in a specially designed kit in the existing electricity meter instead of standing in queues at bill collection centres to pay power bills.

According to official sources, the EPDCL is planning to introduce such a system first in Vizag city, which has a maximum domestic consumption of electricity when compared to all urban and semi-urban areas under its five operation circles across five districts from Sri-kakulam to West Godavari districts in the state.