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AGENDA ITEM REVIEW FORM |
2.C.
Work Session
- Meeting Date:
- 08/04/2021
- Department Head:
- Jorge Perez
- Submitted By:
- Jorge Perez, Billing & Collections Manager, Finance Department, Billing & Collections
Action Requested:
Discussion Item - No Action to be Taken
ITEM:
Discussion and possible directions to staff on any and all matters regarding the option of presenting utility statements to customers in electronic form as the default option unless otherwise expressed by the customer. (Jorge Perez, Billing & Collections Manager)
SUMMARY:
Background:
For the past couple of years, the Billing & Collections Division has encouraged the residents of the City of San Luis to enroll in paperless billing for their utility account. Some of the benefits of going paperless are:
During this year’s budget retreat, Council asked about the paperless program and proposed the option of setting paperless as the default option unless otherwise expressed by the customers/residents.
Item Proposal:
We reached out to our web bill payment provider (XpressBillPay) to ask them about the possibility of us setting residents to receive their bill in electronic form as default and this is doable, but only for those customers that have already created an XpressBillPay account.
If a customer has not created an XpressBillPay account, we would not convert them to paperless, as they would not be receiving a utility statement at all. We currently have 1145 customers enrolled in the paperless program out of 8166 total utility accounts being served.
By doing this change, we would convert 5386 accounts that are already enrolled in XpressBillPay into paperless. Leaving only 1635 with a paper statement.
For the past couple of years, the Billing & Collections Division has encouraged the residents of the City of San Luis to enroll in paperless billing for their utility account. Some of the benefits of going paperless are:
- Data security
- Fast access to your bill
- Helps the environment
- Fewer trips to the post office
- Improved services
- Fast payment (receive bills faster via email without having to wait 4 to 5 days on regular mail.)
- Automatic Payment (optional)
During this year’s budget retreat, Council asked about the paperless program and proposed the option of setting paperless as the default option unless otherwise expressed by the customers/residents.
Item Proposal:
We reached out to our web bill payment provider (XpressBillPay) to ask them about the possibility of us setting residents to receive their bill in electronic form as default and this is doable, but only for those customers that have already created an XpressBillPay account.
If a customer has not created an XpressBillPay account, we would not convert them to paperless, as they would not be receiving a utility statement at all. We currently have 1145 customers enrolled in the paperless program out of 8166 total utility accounts being served.
By doing this change, we would convert 5386 accounts that are already enrolled in XpressBillPay into paperless. Leaving only 1635 with a paper statement.
RECOMMENDATION / SUGGESTED MOTION:
Discussion and possible directions to staff only, no action.
Fiscal Impact
- IS THERE FISCAL IMPACT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS ITEM:
- YES
- CITY/STATE/FEDERAL FUNDS:
- CITY
- TOTAL:
- N/A
- BUDGETED AMOUNT:
- N/A
- AVAILABLE AMOUNT TO TRANSFER:
- N/A
- ACCT NAME & GL#/REMAINING BALANCE BEFORE PURCHASE:
- N/A
FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT (IF THIS IS A BUDGET TRANSFER, YOU MUST ATTACH THE BUDGET ADJUSTMENT FORM):
Fiscal impact will reflect cost savings in bill presentment. The city will pay less for the services of bill printing, sorting and mailing out to customers. The amount of the fiscal impact (cost savings) will be determined by the number of residents that opt to continue receiving their paper statement.