Telangana News: Electricity Bills Cannot Be Paid Through UPI Apps
Electricity consumers in Telangana will face disruptions in paying their power bills through third-party apps such as PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, Amazon Pay, and others.
Hyderabad: Electricity consumers in Telangana will face disruptions in paying their power bills through third-party apps such as PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, Amazon Pay, and others.
Banks have stopped accepting electricity bills of the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TGSPDCL) through these apps. Payment via credit cards from some banks will also be affected.
Consumers can still pay their power bills through the TGSPDCL website, the corporation’s mobile app, and collection centers. The announcement was made through TGSPDCL’s official ‘X’ handle.
SPDCL officials have indicated that this situation may be temporary. They noted that over 85 percent of energy bill payments in the SPDCL jurisdiction are made through third-party application providers (TPAPs). The issue will persist until these apps register and become active on the National Payments Corporation of India’s Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) as directed by the Reserve Bank of India.
Officials have urged UPI app managements to resolve the issue promptly to minimize inconvenience to consumers. They reassured that the TGSPDCL website and mobile app are user-friendly and should not pose problems for the over one crore users.
The RBI has mandated that all credit card bill payments by third-party apps be routed through the BBPS starting July 1. While apps like CRED and PhonePe are BBPS members, major credit card issuers such as HDFC, ICICI, and Axis Bank are not yet live on the BBPS platform.
However, customers with credit cards from SBI, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank, Canara Bank, RBL Bank, and AU Small Finance Bank can continue making payments through third-party apps without issues.
Among the 34 banks authorized to issue credit cards, 26 are still not active on BBPS. The RBI’s initiative aims to centralize bill payments, providing a clear picture of payment trends and enhancing the ability to track and control fraud.
The Payments Council of India (PCI), the payments industry body, has requested the RBI to extend the BBPS compliance deadline by 90 days to avoid service disruptions.
