Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) Logo
Power Minister K. Krishnankutty has stalled the Kerala State Electricity Board’s (KSEB) decision to use spot billing machines supplied by Yes Bank for billing and payment collection purposes.
Mr Krishnakutty on Sunday said KSEB Chairman and Managing Director Rajan Khobragade has been directed to ‘temporarily rescind’ the decision to enter into a deal with Yes Bank in this regard. The minister said that follow-up action would be taken after a careful study of the bank’s spot billing machines and mode of transactions.
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bill payment
Mr Krishnakutty’s announcement came soon after an allegation that electricity bills were being paid through a private bank.
KSEB issued orders for hiring 200 new Android-based PDA/POS machines for spot-billing on January 11 The basis was supplied by Yes Bank. The monthly rent per machine was fixed at ₹90 plus taxes.
The whole-time directors of KSEB, in their December 28 meeting, gave a go-ahead to open a ‘pooling account’ in Yes Bank to collect payments received through these machines. The collection of each day will be transferred to the SBI account of KSEB on the next day (T+1 day as per order).
android app
A Billing Android App developed by Aceware Fintech Services Pvt Ltd will be used to generate electricity bill and collect the amount in PDA machines. In addition, the rent paid to Yes Bank will be included in the operation and maintenance expenses of KSEB.
All these decisions were finalized on the basis that many of the button-type PDA machines used for spot billing were defective and could not be replaced due to lack of spare parts. “In this regard, M/s Yes Bank had submitted a proposal for supply of Android-based PDA machines on a monthly rental basis of ₹90,” the KSEB order said.
However, the decision to use the bank sparked a controversy, which led to the minister suspending the deal.