THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following stiff opposition from various quarters, the management of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) Limited revoked its decision to make payment of bi-monthly bills of above `500 by consumers strictly online within hours of its announcement on Saturday.
The board later clarified that it would accept over-the-counter payment for the next two to three billing cycles and Power Minister K Krishnankutty told a television news channel that the cutoff for online payment had been increased to `1,000.
The second order issued by C Suresh Kumar, director (distribution and supply chain management), has asked the chief engineers in North, South, Northern Malabar and Central regions that offline bill payment will be allowed for the next two to three billing cycles as well.
The order also states that the decision to make online payment compulsory was taken after power principal secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh had found that the board had been getting less than 50% of the payments online.
“I feel that there has been negative propaganda against the board’s move to go for complete digitisation. It is unwarranted as everyone will be able to pay their power bills via banks. We have already held the first round of talks at the bankers’ meet, but it will take time. Hence, we have decided to relax our orders by ensuring that all consumers can make their payments offline for the next two to three billing cycles,” Suresh Kumar told TNIE.