PLN customers to pay bills at one of four designated banks

PLN customers to pay bills at one of four designated banks

JAKARTA (JP): Customers of the state electricity firm PLN in
Jakarta and Tangerang who used to pay their monthly bills via on-
line banking systems are being required to register their payment
transactions at only one bank in order to avoid double payments,
an official said on Tuesday.

"There have been complaints from customers about double
payments of bills since they often used several bank accounts for
on-line payments," a spokesman for the PLN office for Jakarta and
Tangerang, Tito S.P., told The Jakarta Post.

The complaints, he said, arose as a result of monthly
electricity bills being paid -- unintentionally-- both by the
customers concerned and their spouses or relatives, who only
realized their mistake later.

Tito, however, did not disclose the estimated amount of double
payments made by customers.

But a senior PLN official said in a radio interview earlier
this week that the amount reached some Rp 12 billion last year
alone.

"These double payments and the ensuing customer complaints
tarnished the image of PLN and the banks. Therefore, we now want
customers to select only one of the banks which have been
designated by PLN," the official said.

According to Tito, customers are now required to choose
between four banks, namely Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Bukopin,
Bank Bali and Bank Ekonomi.

The new scheme, he said, would be effective for next month's
payment of July bills.

Customers who paid June bills from their bank accounts would
automatically have their names registered at that bank concerned
for their July bills and so on.

He added that customers who intended to pick another bank or a
different payment system, such as through ATMs, phone billings,
or credit cards, should notify the first bank in advance.

"Those who have not yet paid through any of these four banks,
will have to choose and fill in an application form at one of
them or at a PLN service center," said Tito.

"In this way, we will be able to give a better service to our
customers even though it may seem like a retrograde step," he
added.

He admitted that the payment system between PLN and its
counterpart banks has not yet gone on-line.

The records of customers' account numbers, claims and times of
payment from the banks were sent manually to PLN offices everyday
and couldn't be distributed instantly among the banks involved,
he said.

"We plan to set up an open client database for on-line
transactions with all of the banks, but such a system will
require a lot of infrastructural investment and adjustments," he
pointed out.

He added that the plan was still at the processing stage.

Tito said his office serves some 2.5 million customers, 80
percent of whom are small-scale consumers, who only use between
400 watts and 900 watts in their properties. (07/bsr)