Utility payment more efficient now with bKash

The advent of digital technology in the financial sector has transformed countless aspects of people's lives, from day to day purchases to paying utility bills.Paying bills online eliminates tensions of missing deadlines, managing time during business hours for physical visits atbilling counters,waiting on long queue and feeling helpless in time of emergency. Due to convenience and simplicity, paying utility bills digitally, through bKash for instance, has become very popular among consumers across the country as the process is efficient, secure, paperless, time saving and curb commute cost.
With just a few clicks on the bKash app, individuals can easily access their bill information, make payments, and track transaction historywhich can assist them to take informed decisionabout future expenditure, easing the financial management further.
Kabir Chowdhury, a private sector employee living in Dhaka's bustling neighbourhoodof Kakrail, once faced the daily ordeal of long queues at the bank to pay his electricity bills. This often meant taking few hours leave from work, or relying on the apartment's caretaker if leave couldn't be managed.
But now Mr. Chowdhury pay his electricity bill every month from his phone through bKash, the country's pioneering mobile financial service (MFS) provider. "For last couple of years, apart from paying my own bills through bKash, I am also paying bills of PalliBidyut for the native home where my parents live."
He said, "The process is very transparent and convenient as it takes mere seconds to pay the bills while payment confirmation comes instantly with a digital receipt."
The increasing reliance on electricity bill payment through bKash was also reflected in a field level customer survey by the Power Division. The survey, where customers could pick more than one response, found that 61.11 per cent of the post-paid electricity consumers use bKash to pay their bills, making the largest MFS provider single most preferred bill payment platform.The other bill payment methods were office booths, other MFS operators and all the commercial banks.
The survey, titled "Customer Satisfaction Survey with Recommendation of Quality Power Supply Including SAIDI/SAIFI", was conducted by the Micro Industries Development Assistance and Services (MIDAS), which was appointed by Power Cell of Power Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
It surveyed 15,245 customers from March 2023 to May 2023 in multiple response modality, across six power distribution companies in Chattogram, Mymensingh, Narayanganj, Dhaka, Rangpur, Khulna and Satkhira districts.
Alongside electricity bill payments through bKash, customers can pay almost all types of utility bills including gas, water, internet, telephone, TV and other fees like education, credit card, government fees, etc. Biller wise charge may be applicable on paying the bills from bKash app or by diallingUSSD code *247#.
The transition from traditional shift fosters a sense of confidence among consumers, encouraging them to further adoptto digital services that leads to a cashless economy. At the same time, with improved digital literacy and advancement of technology, more and more people will entrust the digital billing in stress-free way.
For businesses and organisations, digital bill collection offers several advantages like streamlining payment process, improvingefficiency, reducing operational costs by reducing the need for manual data entry or physical record-keeping.
Beyond financial benefits, the adoption of digital bill payments also contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing the need for paper currency, paper bills etc. that minimisescarbon footprints and promote a greener transformation aligned with global agenda.
Meanwhile, customers can activate 'Auto Pay'in the bKash appto paybills of certain utility services like electricity, so that the bills can be paid automatically within the billing cycle.