Questions/Answers

The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) distributes electricity power to approximately 3.81 million electricity users in three provinces, i.e. Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan, by dividing the service area into 18 MEA’s Districts. These three provinces are regarded as big cities and have crowded population that is currently in a transition period, entering an aging society. Meanwhile, the mobile devices use trend, especially smartphones, has come to change the behavior of customers because it eases access to information and quickens the forwarding of data. According to the conditions above concerning the transition to an aging society, changes in information technology which is accessible to everyone, changes in customers behavior and also the traffic problems, The MEA has applied digital technology in a process to improve and to offer new service in the form of “MEA Smart Life Application”, that focuses on easy, convenient, fast and modern solutions. Customers can access various services “Any Where, Any Time, Any Device”. The results from using this new application, aside from creating good experience for customers, MEA will also receive information that can be compiled, processed, analyzed and provide in-depth information which leads to the extension with Big Data and Digital Transformation and in order to focus on customers. Moreover, MEA Smart Life can help expand other government services and make good collaboration between organizations, especially, public sectors, and other state-owned enterprises such as plumbing, hospitals, police stations and fire stations in the form of Smart Services and Smart Utilities. MEA Smart Life connects and shares information between departments, thus bringing ease, speed and convenience for everyone to increase the safety of life and property. Everyone is able to access the service 24 hours a day, as our intention is to take care of everyone without leaving anyone behind.

MEA Smart Life is linked to UNPSA 2020 in category 4: promoting digital transformation in the public sector. There are many features in this application: Check and pay electricity bills, Payment by QR code, Notification of payment status, Reports of electrical outage link information with GIS map and automatically sends data to proceeding work. MEA Smart life is the first service innovation of Thailand related to electric utility via mobile devices. It connects customer locations with electrical service information. MEA Smart Life is created based on MEA’s customer requirements; up-to-date, convenience and accessibility anywhere anytime.

“MEA Smart Life", is a service innovation that corresponds to the lifestyles of electricity users who want convenience and speed, and helps support the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 “Goal 9 Building a durable infrastructure. To promote comprehensive and sustainable industrial development and to promote innovation Goals 9.4”. Since it uses IT systems to create service innovations to increase the efficiency of resources and technology, it improves the process that is environmentally friendly, reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the whole country, responds to the Digital Economy policy of the government, and also supports the readiness to drive the country into the Thailand 4.0 era to a "Value-Based Economy", a form of concrete innovation promotion.

MEA Smart Life creates sustainability in 3 dimensions as follows: 1. Economy: Save traveling expenses for people who use the service. 2. Society: Reduce the cost of imported fuel for the country. Customers/People in all groups, especially the elderlies, and the bed ridden, can be served quickly and timely. They can access assistance from crucial services promptly, such as the services from hospitals, police stations, fire stations etc. 3. Environment: Reduce traffic volume or the amount of travel which also reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from automobile combustion, which is a major cause of climate change.

MEA, as a state enterprise, is responsible for distributing electricity to people in the capital. We intend to meet the needs of electricity users, raise ourselves to international standards of satisfaction, improve service processes and ICT system development, extend various services, such as the MEA Smart Life Plus function to increase convenience for customers , reduce travel expenses and bring efficient, quality service to help support the enhancement of competitiveness of entrepreneurs and the country, alongside taking care of society, communities and environmental responsibilities.

This project is undertaken to support the use of all stakeholder groups without discrimination, regardless of differences of gender, ethnicity, education, and benefits, which is in accordance with MEA’s Good Corporate Governance policy in providing equal service to all people, and to reduce inequality in accessing our services.

The target group of the project is electricity users in the distribution areas of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority. Currently, approximately 3.81 million people are positively affected. Positive impact for electricity users and the society as a whole are as follows: 1. Reduced amount of travel to pay for services/transactions at the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, resulting in saving traveling expenses or fuel costs 2. Save travel time 3. Can operate outside of business hours so users can access the service any day and any time. 4. Electricity users that are far away (Especially vulnerable groups) can access the service quickly and solve problems in time, due to being able to specify a clear location for using the service and/or receive service, as well as receiving timely solutions in a shorter period of time to create safety for their lives and property.

In 2009, MEA developed a system to provide maps through web applications, which collected data and meter positions of customers in the MEA service areas In 2012, Gartner forecasts technology trends for 2013. First, mobile phones will replace PCs as devices that accesses websites around the world. In 2012, MEA encountered problem of customers not receiving or losing their bills. Customers did not know the address or contact number of MEA. From the problems mentioned above and changes in technology trends, MEA has developed a Mobile Application: MEA Smart Life Version 1. Customers can check their electricity bill and generate a barcode or QR code representing the electricity bills which can be paid at MEA’s district offices. A map showing the location of the MEA district offices is also provided together with a telephone number. Customers can report power failure by sending photos. In 2015, MEA Smart Life was upgraded to Version 2. It is easier to report power outages within 2 taps. In 2016, MEA Smart Life was upgraded to Version 3. Customers can pay the electricity bill using “MasterCard” credit card. A New feature of alerting their electricity invoice was included. In 2017, Customers can check their electricity consumption history including electricity consumption units and electricity charges for the past 6 months. In 2018, Increase bill payment channels through credit cards, Internet banking and Wallet.

From implementing this application, there are additional solutions to make things more convenient for the public, such as customers having to spend more time to pay for their bills at payment locations. Customer inconvenience in reporting power outages and the customers not receiving power outage announcements for maintenance. Therefore, the application has developed more channels to receive online payment, Increase channels for reporting power outages and new channels for power outage announcements for maintenance. Serving people anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

MEA Smart Life is the first utility service application in Thailand that provides public services for online electricity bill payment and related services to respond to the needs of the people who live in urban areas by using technology and innovation that can easily and conveniently be accessed by the public.

Nowadays people can easily access any applications via Smart Phones. Therefore, The Metropolitan Electricity Authority has developed MEA Smart Life to meet the people’s needs. Moreover, MEA has surveyed the opinions and statistics of applications usage via smart phone around the world to improve the application.

MEA Smart Life received many awards including Core Process Improvement Project Award: ICT Excellence Awards 2016 is a core process improvement project. The Awards praised organizations emphasizing on core process improvement, reduction in work redundancy and costs, increase in efficiency and productivity. Moreover, it improved convenience and reduced operational errors. This award provided the public with knowledge of our excellence in management in order for other organizations to treat it as a role model for developing their organization and improving their abilities in a global competition. The award of excellent service (Thailand Public Service Reward 2016) is an award for organizations that create new services, new procedures and new technologies to support their customers’ requirements. This award promotes and supports government organizations to improve the quality of public services and to follow up their performance to award the National Government Service for government organizations. MEA Smart Life is created through cooperation between MEA, MWA, BMA and others. We signed contracts for information exchange and service technology. The purpose is to integrate information and technology in order to effectively improve service quality. It can enhance sustainable development and spread public knowledge to others, for example to Vietnam, Nigeria and universities.

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MEA Smart Life development was conducted as follows • Outsource the application developer through MEA’s annual budget • Survey, collect data, design and develop work procedures to support the services by MEA’s employees • Develop, install, train and link relevant data by specialists of mobile application development for both Android and iOS from external agencies. • Linked Citizen database and Electricity consumption from MEA's ERP system for electricity bill payment service, consumption history and related services also linked data from bill payment agents for online bill payment. • Train MEA’s employees for Systematic application development by ourselves.

MEA Smart Life is the main communication channel between MEA and the customers. MEA has encouraged in many ways for sustainable development such as financial and policy. In terms of financial, there is an Allocated budget for application administration and development every year. As for the policy, the Application System Development Department has been assigned to develop applications with information supported by other departments. However, the Application System Development Department also has the responsibility to design development and public relations and receive feedback for sustainable development.

Yes

MEA and Thammasat University Research and Consultancy Institute have surveyed the demand and satisfaction of users quantitatively. We selected the target group by Taro Yamane random method at 95% confidence level. We surveyed 3,714 customers for 4 external service systems and 4,089 MEA’s staff for 4 internal service systems. In addition, MEA used State Enterprise Performance Appraisal (SEPA) and Thailand Quality Award (TQA) to evaluate organization.

MEA Smart Life App showed a customer satisfaction score of more than 80%. The survey was conducted by collecting information via quantitative and qualitative methods to receive information for advanced statistics analysis and qualitative method. In 2018, it was rated the best application compared to others, with a rating of 4.1 out of 5 in IOS which is the highest among similar applications, and was the 4th ranked application on the Android operating system. On average, there are more than 5.5 million bill payments and 600,000 reports of power outage per year via the application.

According to the satisfaction survey, we found that the number of users and downloads have continuously increased from 2012 to 2019. It indicates a change in customer behavior, from paying bills at MEA office to paying via the online application. Consequently, it can reduce traffic problems. in line with the objective of MEA Smart Life.

MEA has compiled the customers’ needs from call center database and analyzed them for service improvements. Application System Development Department used that information to design and develop the Smart Life App. Corporate Communication Department, Marketing and Customer Relation Department and MEA’s branches disseminated the objectives and benefits of the application to stakeholders. MEA created public relation programs about new payment channels to various payment agents: Easy Bill, 2C2P, 7-Eleven, Tesco Lotus, Counter Service. In addition, MEA communicated with the public and the mass media through TV programs, radio programs and magazines. Moreover, MEA has increased cooperation with other state agencies such as Metropolitan Waterworks Authority to increase the water payment channels. From the customer responses as mentioned above, the number of cumulative application downloads has steadily increased since the end of 2013, from about 30,000 times to over 1.6 million times at present. Moreover, MEA hired an advisor to survey customer satisfaction every year to obtain information for improving the application in the next version

MEA Smart Life, which is currently operating at the organization level, facilitates customers to report power outages. By specifying the current location of the power failure immediately, that is notified via MEA Smart Life. This can reduce the time required to ask for details from electricity users, help employees to provide service correctly, match positions, reduce damage due to power failure, increase credibility (Reliability) of the distribution system that integrates existing resources to maximize benefits, help provide a full range of services in the long term and also alleviate the problem of traffic congestion in Bangkok, which is a public issue related to the energy budget. Moreover, it can help expand other government services and make good collaboration between organizations, especially public sectors, and other state-owned enterprises such as plumbing, hospitals, police stations, and fire stations in the form of Smart Service and Smart Utility. MEA Smart Life connects and shares information between departments, and eases service for all people, through speed and convenience, to increase the safety of life and property. Everyone can access the service equally 24 hours a day as our intention to take care of everyone without leaving anyone behind.

To provide services that truly responds to the customers’ needs, all employees must be involved and understand the customer centric concept. The communication about MEA Smart Life is important to increase awareness for all stakeholders. For the next version of the application, the Design Thinking process has been established to find new ideas. The Workshop is needed to achieve this process. To upgrade a new version of MEA Smart Life, the executive and the customer service employees are included in the workshop to brainstorm the ideas.