KSEBL's smart billing falls flat
The centralised bill payment system was a seemingly smart move, introduced to end clutter and confusion.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A centralised bill payment system, a measure introduced in 2013 to simplify collection, has prompted public sector units to stop paying bills to KSEB Limited. Result: there has been a short levy of Rs 1250 crore from government departments alone. The centralised bill payment system was a seemingly smart move, introduced to end clutter and confusion. In 2013, when the decision was taken, the arrears to the utility had accumulated to nearly Rs 1000 crore. Under the system, the heads of departments will have to make all payments of electricity charges of all subordinate offices directly to KSEBL. The hope was that KSEB will have to deal with only the main office to secure all the monthly or bi-monthly bills of a particular department.
As it turned out, the new system seems to have encouraged departments to stop paying their bills. “Centralised payment cannot be made operational without an information network is put in place,” a top KSEBL source said. KSEBL, which had to furnish to the HoDs on a monthly/bimonthly basis a consolidated single bill, found that it did not have a mechanism to collect and consolidate the bills of various offices under a department. “Bill collection was dealt with separately by each of our 600-odd sections across the state and there is no central database to coordinate all this information,” the official said. As a consequence, KSEBL failed to present a consolidated bill to HoDs. Departments, as a result, stopped paying the bills. “Even the departments that were regular have stopped payment,” the official said.
Finding itself in deeper trouble, a financially-distressed KSEB has asked the state government to withdraw the system. Departments have generally shown a reluctance to pay power power bills. State government departments and cooperative institutions together have accumulated arrears of Rs 1263 crore; cooperative bodies account for Rs 12.75 crore of the arrears. Among the PSUs, Kerala Water Authority is the biggest defaulter with an outstanding of Rs 1080 crore. The next big defaulter is Travancore Cochin Chemicals with an outstanding of Rs 165.7 crore.