UP makes electricity bill payment easy

LUCKNOW: In its bid to provide transparent and user friendly services, the UP Power Corporation Ltd. (UPPCL) is all set to implement an electricity bill depositing system in association with ICICI bank, with the help of ICICI’s ATM network and through Internet as well.

According to the conditions of the project, ICICI bank would collect electricity bills from the consumers of Lucknow and Noida through three different modes — electronic bill payment system through Internet, ATM counters and cheque drop boxes.

Interestingly, UPPCL has decided to provide the electronic billing payment facility only at Noida and keep the same postponed for the Lucknow region for sometime. "Initially the facility will be offered in Noida within one month and after sometime we will make sure to have this facility over here in Lucknow," said an official at UPPCL on condition of anonymity.

As per the conditions of the agreement between UPPCL and ICICI, the latter would allow the use of its ATM network as a channel for the payment of electricity bills for the UPPCL consumers. This facility would only be available to the common users of UPPCL and ICICI.

The paying consumer would be required to register himself with the ICICI bank, after which he would be able to make the payment through the ICICI ATM network. "At every step the users would be guided by a user friendly menu, we are making sure that proper education is given for the use of this facility," the official added.

The bank has also agreed to offer the services through its Internet-based online payment model, ‘Infinity’. However, the facility would be available to the ICICI bank account holders only. Under the electronic billing payment solution, the UPPCL would be registered as a biller on the website of the ICICI under the billing payment section.

The customers would then log in, fill in the detail of the payment to UPPCL and commit the transaction over the net. Consequently the amount would be debited from the consumer’s account and credited to the UPPCL current account within a period of two working days.