was easy, they were happy," he said. "This particular utility was not
the lowest-cost utility in the area. It was the most expensive, actually.
We tend to think that it has to be low-cost — 'cheap' — and that's
where the satisfaction with the customer comes. But that's not what
the data showed us."
5. Leverage State Laws And Local Ordinances
Perhaps the best way that utilities can empower themselves to collect
payments is to become familiar with the local rules that are in place to
help them. For instance, some municipalities prevent property owners
from selling if their water bills aren't paid.
"Taking a look and thinking about what the opportunities are
within your municipal code that you can enforce makes it easier to
do business," Hulsebosch said. "Being predictable and enforcing the
boundaries that are in your existing ordinances actually makes it easy
[for customers] to predict how they should do business with you."
6. Make Yourself Accessible
Similar to his points about knowing customers and keeping them
satisfied, Hulsebosch emphasized the efficacy of customer assistance
programs that let ratepayers know that utilities want to make it easy
for them to pay their bills on time.
"Making it easy for your call center agents or your billing and
collection folks to follow up with customers … is really helpful,
because not everyone knows about [customer assistance programs],"
he said. "Then, once you interface with the customer who has some
payment challenges, make sure it's easy for that customer assistance
program to pay on their behalf."
Hulsebosch also emphasized the importance of reducing the
number of delinquent customers.
"This is one that can become a real challenge if you don't have
a dashboard showing what percentage of your customers are late-
paying," he said. "Keeping an eye on all of those [delinquent]
customers and trying to use the appropriate mechanisms to move
people off that late-pay list is really important."
But Hulsebosch's parting advice to attendees was an amendment to
his six-part list as a whole.
"Don't fight everything off at once," he said. "This is a roadmap.
This is a multiyear process, but hopefully this will help you
think through some tactics and plans to improve your payment
performance." n
wateronline.com
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Water Innovations
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METERINGANDBILLING
Peter Chawaga is the associate editor for Water Online. He creates
and manages engaging and relevant content on a variety of water
and wastewater industry topics. Chawaga has worked as a reporter
and editor in newsrooms throughout the country and holds a
Bachelor's degree in English and a minor in Journalism. He can be
reached at pchawaga@wateronline.com.
About The Author