Utility payment solutions must be secure, fast and easy to use. They need to be capable of supporting multiple channels that meet the needs of residents, including mobile, online, POS and IVR, with each of these delivering a PCI-compliant checkout experience that minimizes payment failure rates. They also need to offer advanced analytics and reporting, allowing leadership teams to get quick insight into recurring and usage revenue, customer accounts and payments collected.
Automating recurring payments is ideal for utilities, as this eliminates the need for manual processes like submitting invoices to customers via post or email. This helps to significantly improve the payment conversion rate on bills and allows utility companies to avoid expensive late fees. Taking payment directly from bank accounts is already used by a number of telecommunications providers, such as start-up utility provider oxio who launched its domestic internet, TV and phone services in 2015. It took just two weeks for oxio to implement GoCardless into its billing system and take advantage of automated features, diversified payment options and reduced payment failure rates with the Success+ tool.
The best way to make this work is with an integrated platform that marries customer management with payment processing. This makes it easy for companies to accept multiple types of payments, while reducing cost through a single API that can be connected with meter reading systems and other third-party software. These platforms should be hosted on a government cloud that prioritizes zero-trust security, and complies with regulatory compliance standards like PCI. utility payment solution