Electricity Bill Generator & Management System

Project Overview

The Electricity Bill Generator is a full-stack web application designed to digitize the billing cycle for electricity distribution companies. This system replicates the official TSSPDCL experience, replacing manual paper-based processes with a centralized digital database.

The application automates the end-to-end billing process, including user registration, monthly meter reading entry, and bill calculation. It implements a 3-Tier Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) architecture, ensuring secure and segregated functionality for Administrators, Employees, and Consumers.

Repository URL: https://github.com/kpradyun/EBG

System Architecture & Features

The system is divided into three distinct modules based on user roles:

1. Administrator Module

The Administrator acts as the manager of the system, handling the onboarding of service connections, staff management, and payment status updates.

• User Registration: Registers new service connections with differentiated Service Numbers (Household starts with '1', Commercial with '2', Industrial with '3'). Captures essential details including Name, Initial Current Reading, and Address.
• Account Shell Creation: Establishes the initial profile skeleton that allows users to claim their account via their Service Number.
• Employee Management: Capabilities to register and view employee records.
• Payment Status Management: Manually updates bill status (Paid/Unpaid) for consumers.
• Data Oversight: Full access to view registered consumers, employees, and generate normal views of consumer bills.

2. Employee Module

Field agents use this module to input data and generate bills during site visits.

• Rapid Data Entry: streamlined workflow where the employee simply enters the Service Number and Current Reading.
• Smart Bill Generation:
  • Auto-Calculation: Automatically computes consumption (Units = Current Reading - Previous Reading).
  • Fixed Charges: Automatically applies a standard fixed charge if the consumption is zero (Current Reading matches Previous Reading).
  • Rolling Arrears: Automatically detects unpaid previous bills and adds the outstanding amount to the current month's total.
  • Late Fines: Automatically adds a fine to the total amount if the bill remains unpaid past the due date.

3. Consumer Module

This module allows consumers to monitor their electricity usage and billing history.

• Bill History: Provides a comprehensive tabular view of all historical electricity bills.
• Status Tracking: Allows users to see if their bills have been marked as "Paid" or "Unpaid" by the administration.
• Thermal Receipt View: Generates a digital representation of the bill that visually replicates the official TSSPDCL thermal paper receipt, styled using CSS with monospace fonts.

Technical Specifications

• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3 (Custom styling for thermal receipt replication)
• Backend: PHP (Simple procedural logic, easy to understand for beginners)
• Database: MySQL (Relational schema linking Users to Monthly Bills)
• Server Environment: Apache HTTP Server (via WAMP/XAMPP)

Project Structure

Core & Authentication

• index.html - Landing page.
• login.php - Authentication handler.
• logout.php - Session termination script.
• db.php - Database connection configuration.
• style.css - Global stylesheet.

Administrator Files

• admin_dashboard.php - Central control panel for admins.
• register_user_form.php - Scripts for onboarding new customers.
• register_employee.php - Scripts for onboarding staff.
• view_users.php - List of all registered consumers.
• view_employees.php - List of all registered staff.
• view_bills.php - Interface for admin to view consumer bills.

Employee Files

• employee_dashboard.php - Dashboard for field agents (includes Meter Reading Form).
• employee_reading.php - Logic for processing meter readings and generating bills.

Consumer Files

• user_view.php - Customer dashboard.
• view_user_bills.php - Bill history interface.
• bill.php - The thermal receipt generation view.

Installation & Setup

1. Prerequisites: Ensure you have a local server environment installed, such as XAMPP or WAMP, which includes Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

2. Clone the Repository: Navigate to your server's root directory (e.g., htdocs for XAMPP or www for WAMP) and clone the project.

   git clone https://github.com/kpradyun/EBG.git

3. Database Configuration:

   • Open your database management tool (e.g., phpMyAdmin).
   • Create a new database.
   • Import the project SQL schema file (if available) or configure the tables according to the PHP logic.
   • Update the db.php file with your local database credentials if they differ from the defaults.

4. Running the Application:

   • Start the Apache and MySQL modules in your XAMPP/WAMP control panel.
   • Open a web browser and navigate to: http://localhost/EBG