Head for Emirates Post counters to pay your utility bill this month

Starting November 15, residents in Dubai can pay their electricity and water bills at 23 Emirates Post outlets in Dubai. This follows an agreement between the Emirates Post and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) signed on Monday.

The service will be offered through the sophisticated Point of Sales (PoS) system at Dubai post offices that will have a direct link to DEWA's system, providing real-time transaction information to the authority's offices.

Explaining that the DEWA bill payment service is part of Emirates Post's strategic plan to deliver multiple service to the community and businesses, Abdullah Al Daboos, Director General of Emirates Post said: "Some of the services already available at selected post offices are subscriptions for E-Vision, sale of Dubai Municipality's pre-paid parking cards, and banking services in association with the Union National Bank which plans to open branches in all post offices in a phased manner.

"We also offer Etisalat bill payment facilities through the electronic machines. This is just the beginning of our strategic plan to provide multiple community and business services through post offices."

Highlighting that the network of Emirates Post's outlets would provide additional windows for facilitating bill payments, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, DEWA General Manager, said: "This tie-up comes as a result of extensive studies focused on customer satisfaction. This service will save both the customer's as well as the DEWA staff.

"Our research shows that there is a growing demand for new innovative channels for payments of bills. There has been a steady increase in the number of people paying bills online.

"In 2001 about 5,670 consumers paid their bills using our website, with a total transaction amounting to Dh1.8 million. In 2002, this increased to 13, 645 customers."

Post offices turn into one-stop shops
* Most of the post offices in Dubai are already offering a host of other services apart from normal postal work. These include selling E-Vision subscriptions and Dubai Municipality's pre-paid parking cards as well as banking services of Union National Bank.

* The DEWA bill payment facility is similar in nature to the Etisalat bill payment facilities through electronic vending machines.