In a major relief to consumers who have had to wait for long hours in queues to pay their electricity bills, Power minister, C. Kipili Sangtam on Friday officially launched the online payment or e-payment facility of electricity bill here at Electrical office Complex, Full Nagarjan, Dimapur. With just a few clicks, consumers can now pay their electricity bills sitting at home by logging on to www.dopn.gov.in.
It may be noted that Power department has become the first utility department in the state to provide online payment facility for services rendered. Initially, the e-payment facility would be available for consumers under SDO I and SDO III at Dimapur and further extended to SDO II Dimapur, Chumukedima and Kohima by end of 2016 and rest of the towns by 2017.
As the department prepares to implement the central government RAPDRP, Part-A (IT) Project in nine towns, the pilot project would first be implemented in Dimapur.
Speaking at the launching programme, Kipili remarked that launching of the facility was a very important milestone achieved by the Power department.
While admitting the department’s shortcomings in providing stable power supply and consumer services, Kipili maintained the department alone cannot be squarely blamed as it was plagued with shortage of fund and manpower. He lamented that citizens fail to understand that the department is a commercial department vested with supply of power and realise revenue– revenue that can be spend on infrastructure development, consumer services, and power purchase.
“Are we honestly paying our electricity bill?” the minister questioned and urged upon citizens to ponder over how much they were contributing towards the wealth/resources of the state for development.
Expressing astonishment over the 68 percent AT&C loss in electricity revenue during 2015-16, Kipili said the state was almost catering free electricity. Terming it as a moral issue, the minister said the main factor responsible for revenue loss was due to power theft and non-payment of bills.
Kipili expressed hope that the facility would not only ease consumers for payment of bills, but would also impact the department’s commercial operations/performance and revenue collection.
Kipili also informed that very soon customers will have access to Customer Service Centre (CCC) centrally located at Dimapur for lodging their grievances and service related queries online. He further congratulated the officers and staff of Dimapur electrical division, CERMS, TCS Ltd, and Bill Desk for working tirelessly towards launching of online payment facility.
Earlier, S.E (Revenue) and nodal officer RAPDRP, Er. Keviletuo Yiese delivered the introductory speech during which he highlighted the department’s activities through PPT, emphasising on revenue collection/loss, demand and supply of power, infrastructure, and demonstrated the process of online payment.
Er. Yiese said that 68 percent AT&C loss was most worrying and serious concern while admitting that revenue collection efficiency was very low.
The problem behind non-payment of bills and power theft, he said, could be due to inconveniences as there were very few collection centres.
The programme was chaired by secretary, Power Nagaland, K.I. Yanger, IAS, and vote of thanks was delivered by chief engineer (D&R), Er. G. Chishi.
The website, www.dopn.gov.in is a user friendly website designed not just for payment of bills but also for availing various other facilities. For payment of bills, transaction history, FAQs, energy calculator etc consumers can log on to the website and enter their consumer ID (consumer number) to view the details.
One can pay their bills through debit/credit cards or through internet banking. Of the two, internet banking is more advisable as transaction charges are nominal through this mode. Also, officials informed that mobile wallet for payment of bills will be introduced very shortly.
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