BEST mobile bill payment soon

The BEST administration is considering a leap to futuristic technologies which enables utilisation of cell phones for power bill payment. “Payment through mobile is the future technology. As soon as the third generation (3G) mobile internet technology becomes accessible to the wider sections and utility payments are facilitated on mobile, we will have the facility for our power consumers, too,” said Om Prakash Gupta, general manager, BEST.

This statement was a part of the GM’s reply to a complaint made by BEST committee member Ravi Raja about the absence of bill payment centre between Pratikshanagar and Antop Hill. “There are about 5 lakh power consumers of the BEST in the stretch and most of them are forced to go to distant bill payment centres to make payments,” Raja said.

The BEST has over 9.5 lakh power consumers in the city and only 109 bill payment centres- several of them small centres within post offices. However, even the understanding with the post offices of the BEST seems to be uncertain. Recently, the postal department asked for higher commission per bill. According to the BEST, the postal department gets Rs4 per bill payment and the latter is asking the BEST to increase the commission from Rs4 to Rs10.

“I have asked them to continue with the present understanding. We are also planning to open bill payment centres in our bus depots. We expect to start one soon at Prateikshanagar depot,” Gupta said.

The Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system has become popular amongst several corporate consumers of the BEST.