New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS): Delhi electricity distribution company (discom) BSES announced on Wednesday it has launched a WhatsApp service to help customers get duplicate bills, making it the first discom in the capital to provide such a service.

The discom in a statement said consumers can already retrieve a duplicate bill thorugh the BSES website and mobile app and Whatsapp is an addition to its digitisation initiative.

"To get a duplicate bill, all a consumer has to do is save the BSES WhatsApp number in their phone's ‘contacts' list and send a WhatsApp message by typing #Bill9-digit CA (Customer Account ) Number and send it to 9999919123, and the duplicate bill will be WhatsApped," it said.

This service is first being rolled out for the consumers in south and west Delhi and will be extended subsequently for consumers of east and central Delhi, it said.

"To facilitate seamless services on WhatsApp, BSES has integrated this platform with the backend SAP and IOMS platforms," the statement added.

The discom had earlier introduced the facilities of registering "no supply" complaints and reporting power thefts on WhatsApp.

Noting that this feature will make it even easier for consumers to avail BSES services, a company spokesperson said the discom has also been promoting digital payments and has been partnering with several wallet companies to facilitate attractive cash-back schemes for timely payments of bills.

"Today, over 90 per cent of our collections are through non-cash means," he said.