Rural people can now easily pay postpaid bills of Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) through Nagad app. To this end, the country's one of the leading mobile financial service providers inked an agreement with the BREB at a city hotel on Monday (Oct 9). BREB chairman Md. Selim Uddin, BREB member (finance) Dipankar Biswas, Directorate General (Additional Responsibilities) of Directorate of Posts Tarun Kanti Sikder, and founder and managing director of Nagad Ltd. Tanvir A Mishuk were present at the signing ceremony. Top officials of both organisations also attended the event. BREB Secretary Hasina Begum and Nagad's Executive Director Md Shafayet Alam signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides at the event, said a press release.
The speakers at the signing ceremony expressed the hope that this opportunity to pay rural electricity bills through Nagad, an arm of Bangladesh Post Office, will ensure digital transactions of marginalised people while ensuring their involvement in financial activities without any hassle.
Nagad was the first in the country to introduce charge-free bill payments. Later, almost all other operators had to follow it to stay competitive. As part of its continuous customer-centric initiatives, Nagad has now come up with the easy bill payment service for BREB subscribers.
Every customer can avail of this facility through Nagad app. For that, he or she needs to tap "Bill Pay" in the app, select the "Electricity" option, and choose "REB Post Paid" from the biller list.
The customers will not be charged for the first four bills paid under this system.
Currently, postpaid bills of 18 Palli Bidyut Samity under the BREB can be paid using Nagad app. They are Gazipur Palli Bidyut Samity-1, Dhaka Palli Bidyut Samity-1,3, 4, Sylhet Palli Bidyut Samity-1,2, Tangail Palli Bidyut Samity, Mymensingh Palli Bidyut Samity-1, Barishal Palli Bidyut Samity-2, Jhenaidah Palli Bidyut Samity, Faridpur Palli Bidyut Samity, Brahmanbaria Palli Bidyut Samity, Cox's Bazar Palli Bidyut Samity, Narayanganj Palli Bidyut Samity-1, Bhola Palli Bidyut Samity, Sunamganj Palli Bidyut Samity, Jashore Palli Bidyut Samity-1 and Rajshahi Palli Bidyut Samity. Nagad will soon bring all other Samity under this service.
After signing this agreement with Nagad, BREB Chairman Md. Selim Uddin said, "Around 80 percent of Bangladesh's electricity consumers are under the BREB, and Nagad has eight crore customers. I believe that if these two largest customer-friendly organisations in the country walk together, a new horizon will open up. I hope that all Palli Bidyut Samity will soon come under this Nagad service."
Directorate General (Additional Responsibilities) of Directorate of Posts Tarun Kanti Sikder, "Bangladesh Postal Department is becoming more digital day by day. Nagad is a prime example of that...Today's agreement will bring more services to the doorsteps of marginal people."
Founder and Managing Director of Nagad Limited Tanvir A Mishuk said: "Bangladesh's digital transformation has been possible due to rural electricity reaching all over the country. Nagad is also working on that digital transformation. We want the two institutions working with marginalised communities to move forward hand in hand."
