Last week, a newsletter subscriber emailed me and inquired if I had written about offering incentives for customers signing up for bank drafts or paperless billing (ebilling). I have touched on it in the past, but I’ve not written a […]
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I subscribe to a number of daily emails – probably too many, if I’m honest with myself! One of them, Axios Finish Line, arrives at bedtime and this one from last week really stood out to me. What really spoke […]
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I’m not sure where ideas for this newsletter would originate were it not for the listservs I belong to! This week, it was a question about starting a round-up program to assist customers who have difficulty paying their bills. Since […]
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A recent listserv post started me thinking about policies and policy manuals, in particular. The question on the listserv asked about charging a returned check fee for a failed ACH payment. This seems like an easy answer – or is […]
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As we approach the New Year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past year and wish you a very Happy New Year! This past year was my first full year as a freelance consultant, helping utilities […]
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Assessing a late fee after the due date serves two purposes for a utility. One is to reimburse the utility for the loss of cash flow, and resulting interest income, because your customer didn’t pay on time. The other is […]
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I’ve been doing some research into customer portals, primarily for utilities with AMI systems. A customer portal for a utility with an AMI system allows customers to view their usage trends and monitor their hourly usage. However, not all utilities […]
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Recently, during the Q&A session following a speaking engagement, an attendee asked how other utilities handle online applications for service. Specifically, the question was about verifying photo ID, which led to a discussion of the Red Flags Rule. I was […]
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During the Days of Exposure exercise portion of my Improving Revenue Collections for Utilities presentation at a recent speaking engagement, a couple of attendees inquired about the elapsed time between reading meters and mailing bills. This is actually low-hanging fruit […]
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I recently completed a business review for a utility with considerable outstanding unpaid debt. When I asked if they were participating in the state’s debt setoff program, they were not. Let’s look at why that may be a mistake. What […]
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