Reducing Costs with Advanced Payments and a 67% Increase in Scheduled Payments

The Opportunity

Today’s eCommerce giants have created new customer expectations for payment choice, convenience and control – prompting forward-thinking billers to expand their payment options and add greater self-service capabilities. This was the case for Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA), a leading utility provider serving the electricity needs of more than 90,000 customers.

With its growing customer base now more reliant on electricity than ever thanks to the proliferation of remote work, remote learning and electric vehicles, KUA needed a billing and payment partner that could deliver a system befitting the necessity of this essential service. This included offering new digital payments (PayPal, PayPal Credit, Venmo and Apple Pay), creating a one-stop hub for account management and energy usage analytics, and developing new self-service options for actions such as requesting payment extensions.

The Solution

Backed by a decade-long partnership, Paymentus and KUA had already achieved success through the launch of KUA’s electronic bill payment solution. The solution allowed for greater self-service with expanded payment options that included credit and debit cards, PayPal, PayPal Credit, Venmo and Apple Pay digital wallets, and the ability to schedule automatic payments.

KUA’s evolving needs further grew to fit its mission to provide customers with even more ways to view, manage and maintain their accounts. To help its customers track energy usage, KUA launched a new customer portal through a third-party data analytics vendor that incorporates automated meteringinfrastructure (AMI) data and consumption analytics. This risked giving KUA two customer portals – one for payments and one for consumption.

Paymentus was able to solve this challenge by seamlessly integrating its billing and payment solution within the third-party analytics and metering portal, merging payments and consumption to give customers a one-stop solution to manage their accounts. The solution launched without issue, giving KUA customers convenience-driving tools to best manage their accounts.

The Results

Since partnering with Paymentus, KUA has experienced:

The adoption rates of both electronic billing and scheduled payments highlight consumers’ move from more costly, paper-based payment methods to cost-effective digital payments – reducing KUA’s cost to serve while also increasing its on-time payment rates.

In particular, Walmart Bill Pay allows KUA to expand its billing and payment footprint without adding cost by accepting bill payments within Walmart stores. Combined, Walmart Pay and advanced digital wallets(PayPal and Amazon) enable KUA to give customers more ways to pay with a budget-friendly solution.

But the effectiveness of the Paymentus partnership has enabled KUA to serve its customers in ways that go beyond adoption. Until recently, customers needing payment extensions due to financial hardships had to call in and make the request with a live agent – sometimes leading to thousands of calls per month. KUA and Paymentus worked together to launch an automated system that allowed customers to make these requests online. This not only reduced a 5-10 minute phone call to a single click, it also ensured customers needing assistance could feel cared for without having to share personal information.

Customers could also initiate start/stop transfers without the need to speak with a live agent. The ability to self-serve through the electronic billing and payment portal helped KUA avoid almost 2,000 monthly calls, allowing the utility to offer a high level of service without adding costly resources.