Payments for electricity bills go cashless

Vietnam Electricity (EVN) will promote electricity bill payment via digital mode of transactions in 2019. (Photo: dantri.com.vn)

Aiming to double the number of customers using cashless payment, EVN’s members are working with the People’s Committees of cities and provinces nationwide to boost electricity charge collection via automatic debt deduction, SMS & mobile banking, internet banking and e-wallet among local agencies and state-owned firms.

EVN report shows that the group is managing more than 27 million customers, 8.35 percent of whom work for agencies and enterprises. 

Right in 2005, the group carried out cashless power collection by signing agreements with BIDV, Vietcombank, Vietinbank and Agribank. 

Currently, EVN is expanding cooperation with the State Treasury, all of commercial banks, and many intermediaries like ECPay, Payoo, Momo, VNPay, ZaloPay, Viettel, VNPost and Napas to facilitate payment for electricity bills. 

The revenue of electricity payment from this channel has climbed over years as the number of customers going cashless rose from 14.88 percent in 2015 to 44.95 percent in 2017 and 49.45 percent in 2018. By the end of May 2019, some 52.36 percent of EVN customers paid power bills via banks and intermediaries.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are two localities with highest rates of cashless payment for electricity bills, with 81.98 percent and 91.61 percent, respectively.