The Opportunity
EPB of Chattanooga has a long and storied history of enhancing quality of life for residents of the Chattanooga area. Starting as an electric provider, EPB was the first U.S. utility to deliver a community-wide fiber optic network—helping to earn Chattanooga the nickname “Gig City.” Its range of services is outweighed only by its customer accolades, which include J.D. Power Best Customer Satisfaction for Residential Electric Service among Mid-Sized Utility in the South for eight consecutive years and Best of the Best Internet Provider by Times Free Press readers for 13 straight years.
EPB was looking for a solution to enhance billing and payment options for customers and committed to an aggressive implementation plan aimed at quickly transforming and improving its customer billing and payment experience.
The Solution
EPB engaged with Paymentus to respond to customer feedback about adding new digital payment methods and simplicity of service to:
With a condensed timeline, the EPB and Paymentus teams worked hand-in-hand to ensure all payment methods and channels were available to customers at launch. The teams established standard weekly meetings and work sessions, guided by a Paymentus technical implementation expert and project management methodologies proven to streamline and deliver necessary results.
The alignment paid off as the new EPB billing and payment system was deployed on time, with all methods and channels being made immediately available to customers. EPB simultaneously launched a marketing campaign to drive adoption and awareness, with strategic guidance from the Paymentus Client Adoption Success Team (CAST). This alignment ensured greater initial success and heightened awareness of the customer inclusiveness inherent to EPB’s enhanced solution.
The Results
EPB’s successful implementation goes far beyond that of meeting its deployment deadline. Customers have immediately adopted the expanded payment options, which were unavailable through the legacy provider. EPB customers can now pay using:
- PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Pay digital wallets
- Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express credit and debit cards
- Pay-by-Text
- Streamlined interactive voice response (IVR) phone system
- Traditional ACH/eCheck accounts
EPB has also taken advantage of CAST marketing materials to drive AutoPay enrollment through an incentive campaign that awarded two grand prizes for AutoPay enrollees. Through this campaign, EPB successfully exceeded its initial AutoPay enrollment goals, allowing the organization to benefit from automation while easing payments for customers.
The new IVR feature has also proven beneficial for both customers and staff, driving an estimated 60% reduction in payments processed manually by customer service representatives. Coupled with the expanded payment options, AutoPay adoption and increased automation, EPB has far surpassed the performance of its previous vendor and delivered a customer experience befitting its award-winning legacy.
