Recently, there has been a fair amount of activity on one of the listservs I follow about the impending penny shortage. Some areas are already feeling the impact, so if your office isn’t yet, you may soon. Production of pennies […]
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Policies
I’m writing this on Friday, Halloween Day, because I’ll be leaving tonight and out of town next week. If nothing changes between now and the time you’re reading this, with the federal government shutdown, many of your customers may find […]
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In a recent posting on a listserv I subscribe to, someone inquired if any other jurisdictions have a policy that requires employees who handle cash to make up shortages from personal funds. A similar question was asked back in 2012, […]
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With two business reviews I recently completed, both utilities required new applicants for service to show photo ID, but neither required a copy of the rental agreement or closing documents. Let’s take a look at why that is a poor […]
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Last year, I wrote about fraud prevention, specifically as it dealt with a small office with insufficient staff to ensure proper separation of duties. In that office, the same person who received payments was also able to make adjustments, which […]
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When doing a business review, one of the questions I ask is, does the utility leave a door hanger when disconnecting a customer for non-payment? During a recent business review, one general manager related a harrowing story of precisely why […]
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Recently, a long-time newsletter subscriber reached out to me asking if I had any experience with utilities going cashless. Her concern is that it takes her staff about half an hour each day to balance their cash drawers and make […]
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I’ve written previously about how bank drafts are the easiest way to collect payments. They are also generally less expensive to process than credit card payments. As a result, many utilities offer incentives to get customers to sign up for […]
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Today’s blog post draws from my popular Improving Revenue Collections for Utilities presentation. Let’s examine some best practices when taking an application for service. Require a copy of rental agreement or closing documents Requiring applicants for service to provide a […]
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How does your utility handle accounts for customers who have passed away? The best practice is to close the account in the name of the deceased customer and open a new account in the name of the executor or family […]
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