PLN adopts centralized electronic billing system

(News Terupdate) - Customers of state power company PT PLN will as of next month be able to pay their bills through ATM or mobile banking services, as well as other payment facilities provided by major banks, the utility has announced.

PLN signed an agreement Monday with 41 banks in Jakarta for the payment service.
The banks include state-owned lenders BNI, BRI and Bank Mandiri.

The private banks include BCA, Bank Danamon, CIMB Niaga, Bank Bukopin and Bank Sinar Mas.

State postal company PT Pos is also included in the scheme.

The agreement means PLN subscribers will no longer need to line up at the company’s offices and branches of assigned banks to pay their bills.

PLN finance director Setio Anggoro Dewo said customers in Java and Bali would be able to benefit from the new payment system beginning in March, while those in Sumatra and other provinces would have to wait a bit longer.

“The system is called the centralized financial controlling system,” he said.

“Under this new system, PLN customers in Depok [in West Java], for instance, will be able to pay their bills at banks in Surabaya [in East Java].”

Dewo added customers were currently only able to pay at PLN offices and bank branches in their areas, as the existing system relied on localized data from the electricity company.

“The new system will allow banks to access customer data directly from the PLN central office, making the process much easier,” he said.

“This represents synergy between PLN and the banks to build a better payment facility,” said Murtaqi Syamsuddin, PLN’s business and risk management head.

However, Dewo said there had been no agreed fee charged by the banks to make the payment.

“How much the customers will have to pay in fees depends on the individual banks’ policies,” he said.

He added PLN for its part would pay the banks Rp 448 per transaction in fees.

Initially, the scheme will only be rolled out to PLN customers in the main Java—Bali grid.

PLN is currently setting up a similar payment mechanism in other areas such as Sumatra and Kalimantan.

“We also plan to make available this system for customers in North and West Sumatra, and East and West Kalimantan,” Dewo said.

PLN has about 29 million customers in Java and Bali, accounting for about 73 percent of the company’s nationwide customer base of 39.5 million.

The company took in Rp 90 trillion from customers on the two islands last year, or about 80 percent of its total revenues.

Besides upgrading its payment scheme, PLN is now promoting a prepaid electricity service that will help customers regulate their own electricity consumption.

“This year we’re looking to get 150,000 customers wired to the prepaid electricity service, from 100,000 customers in 2009,” Murtaqi said.

Posted in: News Today