The Hindu Business Line : TNEB plans ECS route to accept bill payments

Electronic clearing service (ECS) payment through post offices and ‘all time’ collection centres are some of the initiatives the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) is currently considering, to make bill payments easy for consumers.

Currently, around 1.75 crore TNEB customers pay their bills at 1,725 collection centres across the State, which amount to revenues of about Rs 700 crore a day. These retail customers contribute about 55 per cent to TNEB’s total revenues.

Under ECS, the board is currently in the process of identifying banks where such a tie-up is possible. Once this is in place, the banks will receive request of bill payment from TNEB and automatically debit the necessary amount from the customer’s account, said Mr S. Kathiresan, Member (Accounts), TNEB.

“We have achieved 99 per cent computerisation in our bill paying process and feel we can do much more through computerisation,” he said at a press conference.

Modelled on the lines of centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad, the all-time collection centres would be similar to ATMs where one can walk in, enter one’s 10-digit customer account code, see the balance and make a payment through cash or cheque.

2 phases

Billing of Energy Services by TNEB (called project BEST) has been conceptualised in two phases. Phase-I, operational from last year, involved computerising 615 urban collection centres at a cost of Rs 51.23 crore. Phase-II, currently under implementation, plans to cover 1,805 rural centres at a cost of Rs 87.93 crore. Around 1.25 crore customers are expected to benefit from this. Tenders for both phases were won by Gemini Communications Ltd.

Buoyed by the efficiency brought into the system, Mr Arcot N. Veerasamy, Minister for Electricity, Government of Tamil Nadu, in a speech read out by a TNEB Member in his absence, said the State planned to establish computerised monitoring system to minimise loss in power transmission to under 15 per cent as was the case in some other States. Currently, Tamil Nadu loses about 17 per cent power in transmission.

More Stories on : E-Governance | Power | Tamil Nadu

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Market gets a triple policy booster

Chidambaram unveils fiscal measures to tame steel, food prices

TNEB plans ECS route to accept bill payments