BEST to have IT policy for payment of bills

Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) will come out with an IT policy to make paying electricity bills as well as tracking buses easier through technology.

BEST will launch the much-talked-about GPS service through which commuters can keep tabs on exactly where their bus is and power customers can get their bill amount via SMS initially and eventually, through email.

General manager, BEST, Jagdish Patil, said primary concerns about delayed buses and physical power bills reaching consumers late will be addressed in this manner.

“The IT policy will be such that it will allow us to send the amount of the bill to our power consumers via SMS initially since many of them complain that the bill arrives only a few days before its deadline, after which, you have to pay a late fee. For our transport wing, a lot of our commuters will be able to track where the bus they are waiting for is currently at, via the GPS,” he said.

According to sources, the IT policy will hopefully improve redressal systems in BEST, “Currently, there is a helpline number where people have to call when there is problem with electricity but it is not as sophisticated as we would like it to be, but with this policy, we are hopeful that there will be a way

to record complaints. Currently, we can check on the responders on the helpline number and they get away with saying anything to people who call them, but with this, there will be a log that we will check and see if the complaint was resolved,” said an official, requesting anonymity.

It is expected that BEST will also launch its own android app in which all these features will be included.

It was BEST committee members who had severely criticised the management for not upgrading itself with today’s technology.