SHILLONG, March 11 : The Deputy Chief Minister who is also incharge of the Power Department, Prestone Tynsong affirmed that the public has to pay ₹6 as bank charges while paying their electricity bills through Payment Gateway, and said that the online payment facility has been functional since 2014.
In raising a question in the Assembly today, KHNAM MLA from North Shillong, Adelbert Nongrum sought for a clarification from the Minister on the extra charges that the public has pay besides the electricity bill. Prestone Tynsong said that the extra amount of about ₹6 is the bank charge or commission of the respective banks used by the public.
Participating in the debate on this question, AITC MLA from Nongthymmai, Charles Pyngrope urged the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited( MeECL) to take notice and do something on the extra charges by the banks which is up to ₹5.90 because in other online payments no commission charges are required to be paid besides the bill amount.
Responding further on the additional question, Tynsong has promised to examine the excess amount charged by the banks, and informed that the MeECL has used only one vendor for online payments, to whom the MeECL pays ₹2.50 for one payment and this amount of ₹2.50 is to be paid by the Government and is not to be charged to the consumers.
