HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9234 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No.
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 27, 2010
"�Ti�5exx Page 1 of 3
r` SUBJECT: UPDATE ON UTILITIY BILLING SYSTEM UPGRADES AND
, ,, PAPERLESS BILLING
The purpose of this Informal Report is to respond to questions raised at the April 20, 2010, City
Council meeting regarding the status of a paperless billing option. This option would allow
customers to pay their utility bill electronically, opting out of receiving a billing statement by mail.
By allowing customers to forego the printed statement, the City would save paper, printing, and
postage costs. The Water Department recently initiated a project that would upgrade the City's
utility billing system and allow for a paperless billing option.
The current utility billing system (Sungard Public Sector) was implemented in 1995. No significant
upgrades have been made to the system since implementation. The planned system upgrades
will not only provide the option of suppressing the production of a paper billing statement, but
allow for internal process enhancements and better software support for our overall
operations. Many of the additional benefits are internal to the organization and will include more
efficient navigation tools for Customer Service Representatives and improved security in terms of
both user access and protection of confidential account information.
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The project team began meeting April 14, 2010. There are several milestones that must be met in
the coming months to prepare for the upgrade. The current schedule will require the system to be
offline for the 4-day Labor Day holiday. The upgraded system is scheduled to go live September
7, 2010. Once the system is upgraded, improvements to our online payment system will be
implemented. Those enhancements will allow customers a self service option for establishing
online services and customers will be able to choose from a variety of payment options and
establish recurring payments.
Once customer service staff has had an opportunity to train on the new system components, the
department will be able to roll out the new billing options to the public. As with any new service
option, the Water Department will notify our customers through a variety of communication
mechanisms, including bill inserts, City News, and news releases.
Customers have had the ability to pay their utility bill electronically since 2002, with the
implementation of H2Online. Additional electronic payment options, including electronic bill pay,
were implemented in 2006. In 2008, the Water utility added the check and credit card by phone
option, allowing customers a 24 hour self-service option to pay their bill. Electronic payment
options have increased substantially over the last few years as depicted in the table below.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No.
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 27, 2010
GM'11Ti�
Page 2 of 3
a
r SUBJECT: UPDATE ON UTILITIY BILLING SYSTEM UPGRADES AND
PAPERLESS BILLING
Electronic Payment Options
400,000
350,000
300,000
c 250,000
iv
200,000
1--
150,000
ii
100,000
ii
50,000
FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09
O Electronic Bill Pay - 48,134 261,701 339,214 406,648
O Bank Draft 106,095 105,964 99,601 103,766 114,743
9H20nline 78,126 145,093 211,281 278,604 313,035
®IVR(Phone) - 29,703 158,164
As the proportion of electronic payments increases, we see a reduction in the proportion of
payments received through the traditional bank lockbox processing of checks. In FY2009, 35% of
payments were processed through the lockbox. That is down from 51% in FY05. Some reduction
over the years in our walk in payment facilities has occurred, however, walk in payment activity
still represents 24% of total transactions. Customers using our walk in payment options use cash
80% of the time so the payment centers provide a service that cannot be replaced by current
electronic payment options.
The ability to pay a utility bill electronically provides a convenience to the customer and helps to
ensure timely payment to the utility. The City does, however, incur additional per transaction
costs in the form of fees paid to credit card providers and bank processing fees. Fees associated
with processing electronic payments have increased 405% since 2005. Any reduction in printing
and postage costs achieved as a result of paperless billing will help to offset those increasing
costs.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No.
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 27, 2010
Page 3 of 3
r. r
i
a
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON UTILITIY BILLING SYSTEM UPGRADES AND
Isis PAPERLESS BILLING
Staff recently benchmarked a number of municipal water utilities that offer a paperless billing
option and found that approximately 1%-6% of the total customer base chose to go paperless.
This percentage only represents a portion of those who pay electronically because many
customers still wish to maintain a paper copy for their files. Once the service is available, staff will
work to communicate the benefits of paperless billing and the availability of historical
consumption and payment data online.
Should you have any additional questions, please contact Frank Crumb, Water Director at 817-
392-8207 or Kara Shuror, Assistant Water Director at 817-392-8819.
1
Da a A. Fisse r, P.E.
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS