Over seven years of its launch, the process of online payment of electricity bills of Tangedco is yet to gain currency among customers in the city, more so in the State. While electricity bills can actually be paid with a touch of a button, customers still sweat it out in long queues.
In an RTI application filed by The Hindu , it has emerged that the number of customers making online payment works out to only eight per cent of the total number of customers of 2.48 crore in the State.
Customers making payment online number around 20 lakh. Chennai city believed to be computer savvy fares slightly better with 25 per cent of the total customers of 32.87 lakh paying online, when compared to the poor figures of the State. Even within the city there is a wide gap in customers paying online between Chennai South and North. While the number of users paying through the online system in the South region was 6.67 lakh out of 13.35 lakh customers, the North region had only 1.85 lakh customers paying through online against a total of 19.52 lakh customers. The online payment of electricity bills, which was launched in the city in November 2008 and was extended throughout the State in December 2010, has made little progress since.
Despite Tangedco’s claims to have placed advertisements and distributed pamphlets to create awareness, online payments have not caught on.
Though the reply for the RTI does not give a full picture of the exact number of consumers registered district-wise and reasons for poor reception for the online facility, customers complained that very few banks were registered for net banking (where no additional charges apply) and the need to have a physical copy of the bills.
When asked why the online payment system has not caught on with the customers, a senior official of Tangedco said the customers are still wary of paying bills online in spite of the website being customer-friendly.
Nat Malupillai, CEO, eGovernment Foundation, said he is not surprised by the figure of 8 per cent of users paying electricity bills, as the standard population with regard to e-payment was between 8 and 12 per cent all over the country. Pointing out the convenience factor on the part of the consumer, he brought to focus the positives of improvement of productivity of Tangedco’s workforce.
Seven years after its launch, the process is yet to gain widespread acceptance
