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There are benefits on both sides of the fence. For utilities, steering customers to alternative methods of receiving and paying their monthly energy invoices can lower costs and improve customer satisfaction. Billing is a costly customer service function. It requires significant labor, printing, postage and processing expense. Plus, while volatile energy prices mark the day, some customers – the group of customers not necessarily in the same camp with those mentioned above – cannot pay their energy bills until the last minute. This strains the system with disconnect orders and customer service calls.
Many customers, on the other hand, want payment options. A growing number of people pay their bills online, and these computer savvy consumers expect their energy utility to offer online billing options. Many other customers, while not necessarily avid Internet users, prefer not to write a paper check each month. For this group, a pay-by-phone option in which the utility’s IVR can process a payment electronically might be the right solution. Pay-by-phone has also proven effective for those customers who pay at the last minute.
Another segment of the populous prefers to use a credit card. They may get reward points or some other incentive for purchases made via plastic, and some utilities have even co-branded Visa or Master Card to encourage customers to get reductions on their energy bill. Some consumers are even willing to pay an extra buck or two each month to handle their energy bill in this manner.
Industry projections: Billing services on deck
The graph “Future growth in bill presentment/payment” shows that Internet-based billing services such as EBPP are still the hot commodity. Chartwell estimates that in two to three years, Internet bill presentment and payment will be as common as automatic bank draft and budget billing, which are universal billing-related offerings in the utility space. In addition, pay-by-phone, or allowing customers to call the utility with either a credit card number or checking account information, is still on the rise.
What will likely be the fastest growing segment of billing services is bill presentation by e-mail. E-mail bill presentation could allow customers to settle their accounts in other methods, including regular post, bank draft, with an online bill consolidator or by telephone, while cutting down on the costs associated with printing and mailing the statement.
The other area that will continue to grow slowly, though with less penetration into the overall industry, is bill pay kiosks. Put in place at stores or in other places of convenience for customers, bill pay kiosks likely will be a solution for many utilities that have chosen to close remote customer service facilities in recent years.
This is an excerpt from Chartwell’s Guide to Bill Presentment and Payment 2003. For more information on this industry report, please visit www.energylibrary.com
