Last year, Google marked its entry into the mobile payment space with the India-centric Tez app. Until now, the app allowed users to transfer money to other Tez users and to select merchants. Unlike other apps like Paytm and PhonePe, Tez didn’t offer a choice to pay utility bills. Google has now announced that the Tez app will support more than 80 billers including national and state electricity providers, gas, water and DTH recharge. The company assured that it will be covering all the states and major metros in India.
That apart, Tez app will now make use of the Bharat BillPay system which will automatically fetch the latest bill from the service providers. What’s more, with every bill payment you stand a chance to win up to Rs 1,000 via a scratch card. Google has also included a feature that will help Tez users pay recurring bills like the ones for internet, water or even electricity bills.
I must admit that the features look to be pretty utilitarian on paper, however, when I tried it out, things turned to be a shade different. Setting up the bill payment system on the Tez app is not easy and thus the need of the hour is a detailed step-by-step guide that will tell you how to do so:
- Tap on Payments options on the home screen
- This will open a new menu with your previous payment history and list of suggested businesses (as shown below)
- Now tap on the “New” button, yes the one that comes with a rupee symbol
- In this menu, you should be able to see the list of businesses and Tez connections
- Tap on “Pay your Bills”
- Select the desired service provider, for instance, you can choose “Vodafone Postpaid Bill” for your mobile bill payment or you can also choose “Bescom” for electricity bills.
- In the next step, link to the biller/service provider by providing your account details. If preferred you may also keep a custom name for the billing service.
- Once this is done, the app will automatically fetch the bills from the service provider and will display the same on your home screen
Now, you can pay the bill by selecting the bill name from the home screen and also check the status of a bill. Please note that the payment details and also the outstanding bill will take up to three days to reflect after linking the account