The Opportunity
Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU), part of the PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), are regulated utilities serving more than 1.3 million customers. The utilities have consistently ranked among the best companies for customer service in the United States, owing to a variety of factors including their dedication to innovation.
For more than a decade, Paymentus has partnered with LG&E and KU to deliver a host of self-serve bill pay capabilities that have helped to spur high customer service scores. Most recently, the utilities furthered these self-serve capabilities through the addition of Secure Service® SMS, a text-based, PCI-compliant technology.
The Solution
Secure Service is a patented feature exclusive to Paymentus that LG&E and KU have used for years. Secure Service removes the significant risks and non-compliance issues associated with live phone payments by enabling customers to call in and enter payment card details while shielding sensitive details.
Secure Service SMS, a text-based version of Secure Service, allows customers to receive a text with a secure and direct link to pay their bill. The addition of Secure Service SMS gave customers 10 different ways to self-serve when paying their bill, and further simplified the payment process for customers with digital wallet credentials already saved on their phone.
Added benefits include the utilities expanding their billing and payment footprint while reducing manual processes for their internal teams. LG&E and KU have also drastically reduced their PCI-compliance burden – all while providing the high level of service customers expect.
The Results
Digital, self-serve payment options have proven to be immensely popular with customers, evidenced by more than half of LG&E and KU customers (59% and 61% respectively) paying their bills through the online one-time payment portal (ROTP) and customer portal (CP), or through AutoPay. These types of payment options require minimal oversight or assistance from staff or CSR call centers, as customers can access all their bill details and pay securely within these intuitive, online experiences.
As LG&E and KU are able to seamlessly add new payment features including Secure Service SMS, they have been encouraged by the immediate increase in adoption. In fact, KU experienced a 275% increase in Secure Service SMS adoption during its initial 90 days post go-live – outpacing transaction growth metrics for all other payment channels during this time.
While streamlining the process for customers, the utilities also estimate the combination of self-serve capabilities saved its teams at least an hour a day in serving customers, leading to thousands in savings since go-live.
