Why are a large number of consumers still reluctant to pay electricity bills online?

The limitation is the restricted number of transactions when paying bills online which may impede our daily operations.

Even with the growing use of technology in nearly every sector or industry, offline modes of payment and standing in queues are still popular amongst the general public. There are many reasons, the most common being the lack of access to internet services in certain regions and the fact that many people don’t understand the system and structure of online payments and related processes.

Reasons pertaining to less usage of online methods to make electricity payments

Let’s delve into some of the reasons why offline payment modes have the upper hand though these things have become technology-driven.

1. Online scam and safety

Technological growth and advancements in the sector come with various other cons leading to breaches in our security. There are many cases wherein people have been through online scams. This has become one of the major reasons why people don’t trust online sources and prefer to pay in a physical setup. People have a notion that it’s better to stand in long queues and wait for hours rather than making the payment online and fall victim to such type of fraudulent activities.

Scammers have made their way into this area, too and have been successful in scamming people by making either replicas of the original websites or demanding personal information in the name of protection and safety. To tackle this, digital payment portals ensure that it takes all the safety measures for their consumers.

2. Preserve bills in hard copy

Sometimes people don’t find it trustworthy to make payments on apps. This is because they don’t have access to hard copies of which they can keep track of records. There are many people who manage different types of payments, may it be an electricity bill or a gas bill, they maintain proper records of everything. They find it more difficult to make payments firstly by the apps and not even get a proper bill instantly in the hard copy.

For example, you make KESCO payments through the portal and the person who has been making online electricity bill payments for years will not find it intriguing to make the payment in another way while the access to the bill would be available only in online mode for the time.

For example, if someone makes an online electricity bill payment to KESCO for the first time using digital payment apps, he might be confused about not having a hard copy of the bill or the receipt. These apps send notifications through SMS and emails for each successful payment and also provide a download option for keeping records of your payments.

3. Cautious about financial transactions

Suppose a person is making an online electricity bill payment; they might have linked it to some or other bank accounts. Now, it is possible that you might fall victim to fraudulent activities and share your bank details with unknown sources and get your account compromised in return. These types of incidents are one of the main reasons people prefer to pay through an offline medium. With the rise in technology, there has been a rise in data and account breaches as well. This is an extension of what is related to online scams. This means people have become cautious about how they do transactions online.

4. Technological Illiteracy

Times are changing in terms of technological adaptability. Still, there are large sections or groups of people who still don’t have much knowledge either of technology or internet services. This has limited the usage of technology-laid services like making payments online. It is observable in many cases that people are reluctant to adapt to these technologies and don’t wish to change their methods of doing basic everyday life processes.

Services likeMobiKwik have made these procedures handy for people who have a fair knowledge of technology and motivate those who are new to this area by making them understand its importance.

5. Number of transactions and limitations

The biggest restraint is the limited amount of transactions one can make when making an online bill payment. Multiple transactions from these online payment portals may restrict our activity for a day. 

For example, a person makes an online electricity bill payment to KESCO through MobiKwik. You made multiple transactions from this portal in a single day like gas bill payments, telephone bills and other small transactions like groceries, food payments etc. Now when you are up to do an online electricity bill payment, your payment limit gets restricted.

So, the person from the next time may prefer to make payment by other means.

Conclusion

There by, we have delved into some of the crucial and influential factors which gave us insight into the reasons why people still choose to pay in physical mode despite advancements. But it’s up to the decision of people in choosing either means because online modes are far more feasible in terms of comfort and accessibility.