The days of standing in line to pay your power bills are over, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said, unveiling a pilot version of the online payment system for customers in the Kathmandu Valley at the Energy Ministry on Monday.

Energy Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi inaugurated the new service by paying the electricity bill of an NEA customer served by the Lagankhel Distribution Centre.

The pilot version will be continued for several weeks, after which the service will be available nationwide, according to Shahi.

“After a couple of weeks when the service is launched all over the country, around 3.3 million NEA customers can make online payment of their bills,” said Shahi. “The new service was launched to offer quality service to NEA customers and make revenue collection more transparent.”

The state-owned power utility has partnered with nine vendors including three commercial banks and a development bank to roll out the new service to its customers.

“When we called for proposals from potential partners, nine companies responded. Instead of choosing a single company, we decided to give the opportunity to all nine companies as the larger network will benefit our customers,” said NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising.

The NEA has already signed agreements with six companies, eSewa, Paypoint Nepal, City Express, CFS Remit, Prabhu Bank and Mahalaxmi Development Bank. It will be signing deals with Himalayan Bank, Nepal Investment Bank and Nepal Clearing House soon. 

With the new payment system in place, all one needs is an account with one of the vendor companies, a decent internet connection and a mobile phone to pay electricity bills which will not take more than a few minutes.

NEA customers who don’t have a bank account can visit one of the thousands of counters of the nine companies and make payment instantly. 

“During the ongoing pilot phase, all our partners will be providing the service free of cost as per our initial arrangement,” said Ghising. “Even after the payment service becomes operational in a full-fledged manner, the NEA will make sure that its customers won’t have to pay an additional service charge to make online payment of their power bills.”