This was decided at a meeting of the chief executives of banks and utility companies held under the chairmanship of the Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Dr Shamshad Akhtar here on Thursday.
The meeting decided a thorny issue of service charges between the banks and the utility companies regarding the collection of utility bills, which has been pending since 1997. The SBP Governor, Dr Shamshad Akhtar resolved this long lasting issue in the meeting.
The SBP gave a mandate to the banks to charge Rs 8 as service charges for collection of utility bills on every transaction regardless of the amount of the bill. The banks were demanding Rs 12 to Rs 15 per transaction as service charges for collection of utility bills.
All the utility companies including SSGC, KESC, PTCL agreed to charge Rs 8 per transaction as service charges of collection of utility bills. It was agreed in the meeting that the utility companies will pay service charges to banks for rendering the services of collection of utility bills for which a separate service level agreement will be signed between the banks and the utility companies. The utility companies agreed not to charge the service charges of Rs 08 per transaction from the consumers.
It was also decided in the meeting that all banks would provide facility of drinking water and sheds at their branches for the benefit of the consumers in accordance with the municipal laws. The utility companies and the banks will inform the general public through an aggressive media campaign that now all commercial banks' branches will accept the utility bills.
The State Bank of Pakistan will carry out regular inspection and surprise checks of banks' branches to ensure that the public are being provided these facilities so that they should not face any difficulty in depositing their utility bills.
The State Bank will impose fines if any bank is found guilty of not providing the above facilities at their branches.