CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation introduced a new facility on Friday for paying electricity bills via WhatsApp UPI to those who consume more than 500 units.

In an update on its social media handle, Tangedco announced that those consuming more than 500 units of electricity can pay through the WhatsApp UPI payment feature. The utility’s call centre number, 9498794987, is the same number for bill payments on WhatsApp, it said, advising the consumers to verify the genuineness of the account by ensuring that it carried the utility’s emblem on display and a green tick.

According to Tangedco officials, as soon as the assessment is done, messages with bill details will pop up automatically on the WhatsApp accounts of the mobile phone numbers linked to the service connections. From there, consumers can view the bill and choose to pay the amount using WhatsApp or other UPI windows.

The official said that WhatsApp payment would be extended to all consumers in a phased manner after rectifying the bugs reported.

Tangedco has already enabled UPI payment options for consumers to switch to digital payments such as GPay and Bhim, apart from the option of paying through net banking and debit card by logging on to Tangedco's user account online.