Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to examine practice and challenges of utility bill collection,
in the case of Ethiopian electric utility Finfine surrounding district Oromia national
regional state. Ethiopian Electric Utility currently provides electric distribution to 3.1
million customers having 28 District offices and 569 Customer service centers within 11
Region throughout the country. Ethiopian Electric Utility delivers the sale of electric on
postpaid and pre-paid collection of payments. Post-paid customers pay their
consumption through bill. Billing processes involve visiting each and every customer
house in order to get consumed amount. After reading from the meter the data inserted in
to billing data processing system to produce bill. Bills are prepared in four groups per
month according to customer’s area to simplify the reading process and they are
expected to pay on their group period. Pre-paid sale of electric energy is customer’s buys
electric power for future consumption and no need to visit customer house in order to
update consumption amount like postpaid. By this collection practice the electric energy
sale takes place. Based on literature reviews, the researcher identified four specific
objectives related to the practice and challenges of utility bill collection. The research
design is made based on descriptive research design. The data was gathered from
questionnaire with likert type questions as the research instrument, which is designed in
line with the objectives of the study. Whereby respondents indicated their level of
agreement to which the variables were practiced. The result and finding of the study as
collected from the sample population are presented and concluded based on the
objectives of the study. The researcher presents recommendations for improvement by the
authority under investigation and highlights suggestion for further study by other
researchers.
