Thiruvananthapuram: There are certain bills for which one need not bother to remember the last date of payment. One’s mobile or Netflix bills, for instance. They get automatically drawn from one’s bank account. From November 15, if a consumer gives his/her bank a standing instruction, bi-monthly power bills too will be automatically debited to the KSEB Limited account through the electronic clearing system (ECS). The KSEBL will also unveil the official mobile application for paying bills on that day. Consumers will be able to download the app from Google play store. Though various mobile apps bearing KSEB's name and logo are available on play store, none of them are official. In fact, the utility is planning to take action against such 'impostor' apps.
The bill payment is implemented through the centralised National Automated Clearing House (NACH) gateway of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The bills of customers who have registered under it will be automatically cleared from their bank accounts. The facility will be available in all nationalised banks. The NACH was introduced as a web-based replacement for the ECS for aiding electronic transactions that are periodic in character. In February, the KSEB had launched two new bill-payment services; an e-wallet Paytm facility, plus a tie-up with the centre’s Apna CSC (Common Service Centre) scheme which enables consumers to pay their bills through any of the centres across India. The KSEB has bigger ambitions and it plans to introduce a facility for LT industrial consumers in a month’s time to alert them when their contract demand has exceeded the limit.
