ATLANTA — As part of the push to improve customer satisfaction measures, utilities are offering more choices in bill payment options for their customers, a new Chartwell study concludes.

This new report, Utility Bill Payment Options, a part of the Chartwell CIS and Customer Service Research Series, combines an analysis of bill payment services at 46 utilities and data from Chartwell’s most recent survey of utility company professionals on their energy billing practices. The goal of this research was to determine what types of options, beyond the standard mail-in payment, customers have to settle their energy bills each month.

The report found that what were considered "alternative" payment options, such as budget billing and bank account debit, are now standard practice among forward-thinking utilities.

Now, utilities are finding innovative ways to offer budget billing or levelized bill payment options, as well as to use the Internet and third-party vendors to give customers more choices.

Offering customers choices for paying their bill is now a requirement to meet the needs of certain customer groups, the Chartwell study concludes. For example, Internet bill payment, or E-Bill, satisfies the technology savvy; offering choice in payment due dates caters to senior citizens; and auto debit assists those with hectic schedules or who don’t want to bother with writing and sending a check each month. There are obvious benefits for the utility as well when offering these options.

Utility Bill Payment Options is a part of the Chartwell Customer Care Research Series, which consists of various industry research reports, an exclusive online newsletter and other data. Utility Bill Payment Options, which includes an industry overview analysis, six graphs and three case studies, is available to Chartwell’s Premier and series subscribers as part of their subscription package. The report is also available to non-subscribers for $250.

For information on this and other utility industry research by Chartwell, please contact us at (404) 237-9099. Press contact: Dennis Smith, (404) 237-9099.