Energy Biz - March/April 2008 - (Page 53) October 2006, essentially waiving the percentage fee and charging a flat 75 cents per transaction. Pressure also comes from consumers who want to use their cards to earn dividend miles or other benefits and see the utility bill as a vehicle for that. “Like any other retailer, it’s seen as offering the highest level of customer service,” Carnevale said. The Ascent Group has found companies, including participants in its research, are now offering fully featured websites that allow customers to view bills, access billing and payment history, as well as accept electronic bill payment. “Several companies in this year’s study have also added options to securely deliver bills and offer payment options via e-mail, hoping to expand eBill participation. While e-mail bill presentation has been around for a while, it was pushed to the back burner in the rush to deliver electronic billing presentation and payment via the web,” said Christine Kozlosky, principal of The Ascent Group. UTIlITIES aRE GIvING IT a FRESh lOOk “We’re a large company with 4 million bills sent a month, so we do have some economies of scale on the paper and printing side. But those economies are less than for a smaller company with the consideration of postage,” said AEP’s Crawford. While it may seem that the use of electronic billing may deepen the customer relationship, perhaps even alerting them to additional products and benefits the utility may offer, anecdotal evidence at AEP indicates that isn’t quite correct. According to Crawford, customers visiting the company’s websites looking for consumer information often see the billing and payment options and investigate further, signing up for the service. Other benefits include personalized marketing opportunity. Due to the very nature of this billing medium, billers are able to store a range of marketing messages and apply these to the delivered electronic bill. These targeted pitches are directed to customers. “But while the larger investor-owned utilities are eyeing direct credit and debit card acceptance more openly than in years past, this doesn’t mean consumers will be able to write in their credit card numbers when they mail the bill stub. Rather, recurring payments via an electronic presentment and payment offering appear to be the wave of the future,” a statement in a study by Chartwell Inc. reads. Allegheny Power reported that customers expect diverse payment options. Allegheny investigated third-party providers of more cost-effective solutions and began offering electronic payments in 2002. Its volume of phone and Internet payments has increased dramatically over the past several years, growing from 233,000 payments in 2002 to nearly 800,000 payments in 2006. 29725 Payment Services_EB.indd 1 2/5/08 10:42:15 AM 53 www.energycentral.com E n E rgyB i z http://www.energycentral.com
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