Consumers paying bill online to get incentive, says discom

To encourage the payment of electricity bills through digital mode, Jaipur Discom plans to give incentive to the consumers. Sources informed that discussions were being held at the top level of management of Jaipur Discom. According to the plan, selected 100 consumers will be provided an incentive of Rs 5,000. The only condition is that the bill amount should not exceed Rs20,000. These 100 consumers will be selected through a lottery system.

Managing director of Jaipur discom RG Gupta said that such plan is a part of the discussion and added, “we want to encourage consumers to pay bills through digital payment mode. This will reduce a lot of other costs.”

This measure will cost Rs 5 lakhs to discom every month and in a year it will cost Rs 60 lakhs. However, officials informed that it will benefit the discom indirectly as a lot of costs which go into the collection of the bill will gradually reduce if the consumers start making the payments through digital mode.

Notably, a few weeks ago at a meeting of the ministry of power organised in Delhi, the ministry had also asked all the states of the country to promote digital payments in billing. The billing of consumers is one of the largest revenues made by discom and if a large number of consumers pay through digital mode, it will be a solid step towards digital India.

Currently, the consumers who attempt to make online payments by logging onto the website of discom through debit card or credit card have to pay some extra amount than the billed amount because the banks deduct some charges on the amount paid.

The incentive will be either be Rs5,000 or the bill amount of the consumer, whichever is less, informed the sources.

If a consumer with a bill of Rs 3,000 makes digital payment then he will get an incentive of Rs 3,000 and not Rs 5,000. Moreover, the amount of incentive will be adjusted in the next bill of the consumer.