Need advice on settling Electricity bill.

Since we spend only a part of the year in our apartment in Goa,can someone advise me on how to settle my electricity bill promptly (without being there) to avoid disconnction, I understand that the billing cycle is bi monthly and one needs to pay within one month of recieving the bill or else......

Also, what is the approx bill amount payable for a 2 bedroom apt for electricity useage??

When is the house tax due? Any other payments/taxes/levies from Goa govt that i should be aware of??

Many thanks in advance

JB

JB..
You could pay an advance amount..which would offset your future bills. While I do not reside in Goa, it should be on similar lines as any other state...you would make a fixed amount (towards meter rent/etc) & actual consumption charge which is per unit consumed. There is basically a slab rate, and the cost per unit goes up when you go to a higher slab...
Google search brought me to this link...do check it out...
http://www.goa.gov.in/pdf/ElectricityDeptCharter.pdf

In addition to ashok777, which is the best way if you don't have an Indian bank account:

It is easy to pay bills online through an Indian bank or using sites such as billjunction.com. I use this site for many bills. One of the advantages is that bills can- at your choice- be paid automatically on receipt by billjunction. (They will receive all generated bills electronically) However, you do need an Indian bank account to link to billj.

I pay my Tamil Nadu EB bills online.

In fact, the system is now well automated, and I get an e-mail bill within a few hours of the meter being read, which can be paid immediately. It is limited, though, to particular Indian online-banking facilities. Only your local EB web site will tell you what is available.

I have similar arrangements with Airtel and BSNL.

Previously, when I knew that I would be away, and did not want to be disconnected, I made a deposit (financial ) at the local EB office to cover the foreseeable bills until my return.

What happens, though, if the EB meter reader can't access the meter? Capt?

Two pigeons flying. One tells the other... let us make a deposit on that cadillac.

I think what happens practically in many places when the meter is inaccessible is that they bill you based on your average bill over the last (few?) meter reading(s) till it is. Dunno what the rule book says, though.

Yes, I think you are right. I only did this once, when, having got wife visa (applied for the day before; it was possible then), buying air ticket, paying EB and arranging PO to hold mail (not to mention packing and catching the plane) all had to be done in a day as we rushed to my mother's death bed.

The last time we forgot to pay, a guy turned up and told us we had half an hour to take cash to the office, or it was blackout time.

I think they reconnect you promptly when you do pay up, though. There was some guy blogging that he used this method (pre online payments days) to be able to pay his bill when there wasn't a queue. I thought that was just stupid.

Thank you all for your replies.

Captain,I did check Billjunction.com,they do not seem to support electricity bill payments in Goa.I do have a bank account with HDFC,they too do not have a working arrangement with the EB Goa.

Nick : Apparently the EB Goa is functioning in primitive times and do not accept E transfers,only cash/check or DD.

I guess I am left with the option of advancing EB so that they don't disconnect me.

Looks like it.

I don't know if the charges are comparable, but the TNEB site has a calculator that tells how much the bill will be for so many units. If your EB doesn't offer such a facility it might help. On the other hand, if the charging structure is different, it might be completely useless! it's here.

If you do have the option of advancing, then it is not primitive enough!

The EB in some prominent cities in West Bengal do not even offer you that option! No Billjunction, no bank ECS, no online payment either! You (or your representative that you must somehow arrange for) must queue up to pay just the right amount by the due date. Otherwise, some member of an army kept on the payroll just for this purpose will appear promptly to disconnect. This is 21st century India, after all!

I think the TNEB is really quite advanced. In Chennai, we have had online payment for some time, and I think it has now been extended to the whole state. They also now cycle the meter-reading/due-dates, so there is no more of everyone's meter getting read at the end of the month and having to pay within the first two weeks of the next month (with great queues in that second week of course).
and even I find myself, these days, saying, "I remember when..."

Like everything else in Goa,even the EB is laid back.