The disutilities of online Utility bill payments
By Tapasya Nair
(25 March 2019)
Internet banking had arrived in India a few years back. Although, it is instantaneous and faciliatates payments and transfers, initially not many people took to this medium of banking owing to apprehensions of safety and security of internet transactions, as well as lack of knowledge about internet banking. Later, as regulations were put in place to govern online transactions and as people developed trust in the online medium they attempted to use this medium. It took sometime even after the enabling regulations were put in place for people to get comfortable .
I have been using my internet banking account to pay some of my utility bills. When I started using it a few years back, I found it great that I was able to instantaneously pay my utility bills without having the botheration of standing in queus leaving important work behind or having to send someone to pay the bills. However, as I did not use my internet banking frequently, I discovered that if one did not view the date of payment for the utility one would not be able to pay it online. The system is only geared to payment of the utility bills within the due date. However, in the offline mode the utility bill can be paid offline also with some fine. So, inadvertently if one misses the payment date, then one is forced to pay offline! This defeats the purpose of being able to pay the bill online with ease sitting at home. The second flaw in the system is that, even after one has paid for the utility bill, it only reflects in the billers record after three working days.
Thus, I encountered a two fold problem with respect to payment of utility bills through online banking. The first pertains to the inability to pay the bill (along with fine) beyond the due date and the second pertains to inconvenience caused with respect to confirmation of bill payment owing to the time lag in updation in the billers record. These two flaws in service deliveries forces one to prefer the offline mode (which is more cumbersome) at times. Thus, the more inefficient way of paying the bills persists as there is certainty of payment and verifiction of the same on a real time basis. The window of online payment is left infructuous due to its shortcomings in design and implementation.
The problems faced in both cases can be dissected at three levels:
1) System issues with the Bank
2) System issues with the Utility company/companies
3) Interface between the bank and the utility companies.
If we analyse which of the three levels or two or all of them is the source of the problem then we will infer that these problems arise due to the difficulties faced at the interface between the banks and utility company/companies.If the problem was pertaining at the system level of the Bank in question then other payments from the Bank should also face similar problems. However, the Bank provided for instant money transfers into beneficiary accounts. These transactions happen instantaneously and are reflected in the transaction history immediately. Hence, we can safely rule out the Bank’s system as the cause of the problem at the outset. Similarly, the Utility company accepts payments beyond the due date with fine if paid directly to them. Hence, there are no system issues with the Utility company. It is essentially a problem at the interface between bank and utility company. The design of this interface needs improvement. If the ‘auto pay’ option had been selected by the customer in the online banking system then the customer would not encounter these problems and the bill would be automatically be paid on time. However, I had not chosen the ‘auto pay’ option so that I may be able to view the bill amount before payment. This I felt would help me keep track of my usage and identify any abnormal aberrations in bill amount (if any).
In order to rectify this problem, the bank and the utility company could give a two fold solution to the customer. On the one hand, the bank could give an intimation to the customer that a new bill has been generated. On the other hand the bank and the utility company can design the interface in a manner which enables payment of bill after due date with fine also and a real time updation in record. To some extent the first solution of the bank intimating the customer about the pending new bill has now been put in place. One gets alerts from the banks via email/mobile that new bill of the utility company has been generated which requires payment. However, the second step at solving the problem still needs to be implemented.
It needs to be studied further at a systemic level whether the deficiency at the interface level is owing to institutional factors, skill sets, data policies or other reasons.
The sum and substance of this experience for me at a personal level was,”Hey! This needs to get better”. Half the advantage of online banking goes if these shortcomings are not addressed. Thus, the utility of using online banking for utility bill payments needs to be implemented holistically.
