billserv.com Inc., a leading electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) service bureau, has announced it has signed an agreement with San Antonio Water System (SAWS) to develop a six-month pilot program that is projected to lead to SAWS customers being able to pay their water bills over the Internet.
SAWS serves about 1 million people through its 300,000 water and sewer connections and is among a growing number of forward-thinking public utilities taking active steps to engage in online billing.
"billserv.com’s pilot program with SAWS is a significant first step toward developing what we see as being a key ‘early adopter’ deployment of Internet-based bill presentment and payment systems for a large municipal utility," said Michael Long, chairman and CEO of billserv.com. "San Antonio Water System mails hundreds of thousands of paper bills each month, making it a perfect candidate to benefit from electronic bill presentment, and billserv.com is pleased to be working alongside SAWS on this project."
SAWS employees participating in the pilot will view and pay their water bills through the major bill payment Internet Web sites, such as CheckFree and Quicken. Since billserv.com has the ability to present consumer billing information to any Internet billing interface, the pilot program will help demonstrate billserv.com’s ability to reach any consumer anywhere on the Internet.
"The potential for our customers to pay their water bills online holds an exciting promise SAWS on many fronts," said Michael F. Thuss, president and CEO of San Antonio Water System. "Our pilot project participants will receive the same information electronically that they now receive via mail. That includes the bill statement and bill insert. One of the greatest potentials we see with electronic bills is the ability to send important information about water service and programs to customers without additional costs in mailing."
Greg Flowers, director of information systems for San Antonio Water System, said, "Part of SAWS’ strategic plan is to leverage technology to provide effective and efficient service to customers and we view Internet bill presentment as a very promising program to implement leading edge technology. We’re enthusiastic to be among the first utility companies to test this advanced technology, and look forward to working with billserv.com."
SOURCE: billserv.com Inc.