Gas South Drive e-payment Adoption by Supporting a Customer Centric Bill Delivery Model September 23, 2015
About Gas South Gas South is a leading provider of natural gas, serving approximately 280,000 residential, business and governmental customers throughout Georgia and Florida Based in Atlanta, Gas South insourced customer care in 2012 to have greater control over the customer experience Gas South is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cobb EMC, one of the country's largest electric cooperatives 2
Customer Centric Bill Delivery and Payments 3
Payment Choices and Customer Satisfaction JD Power study revealed that billing and payment factors can account for 20% or more of total customer satisfaction scores. Offering multiple billing and payment options increases customer satisfaction by 43%* * Source: Seventh Annual Billing Household Survey, Fiserv Inc., 2014 4
Atlanta Demographics 90% 80% 70% 60% 9% 7% 17% 15% Veterans (Ages 70-90) 50% 40% 27% 30% Boomer (Ages 55-69) Gen X (Ages 34-54) 30% 20% 10% 27% 28% Gen Y (Ages 18-33) 0% United States Atlanta Source: Data derived from the US Census Bureau 5
Payment Preferences by Generation The Western Union Bill Payments Money Mindset Index, March, 2013 6
Customer Bills Received Today for Utilities N = Varies, out of 1,785 Consumer respondents in the U.S. who receive utility bills/statements on a regular basis Source: 2014 Customer Communications Consumer Survey, InfoTrends, 2014 7
Customer Bills Received Next Year for Utilities N = Varies, out of 1,785 Consumer respondents in the U.S. who receive utility bills/statements on a regular basis Source: 2014 Customer Communications Consumer Survey, InfoTrends, 2014 8
Channel Primarily Used to Access Bills N = 2,000 Consumer respondents in the U.S. Source: 2014 Customer Communications Consumer Survey, InfoTrends, 2014 9
Delivery Channels and Payment Options 10
So how did Gas South leverage electronic delivery channels to drive epayments? 11
We listened to our customers! Can you email me my bill? Will my bill be paid today? I don t want to register to pay on line. 12
Working Together To Drive Gas South s Paperless Billing Adoption 25% 20% 1% Introduced in May 2015 15% 10% 7% 12% Paperless Billing by Email Paperless Billing at Gas South.com Paperless Billing at Bank 5% 5% 8% 0% Apr '10 Jul '15 13
Paperless Adoption Drove Electronic Payments 100% 80% 1% 1% 40% 19% 60% 40% 20% 59% 80% Walk-In Cash By Mail Electronic 0% Apr '10 Apr '15 14
Introduced E-Mail billing 15
E-Mail Billing Secure Bill Attachment 16
Express Pay One-time Payments Quick Easy Mobile Friendly No registration Promotes prompt electronic payments 17
Gas South epay Quicker System Recognition Payment posted within one business day Reduces care calls Improves Customer Experience 18
Conclusions Multi-channel bill delivery supports improved customer experience and customer satisfaction Choices in bill delivery channel drives increased electronic payments Gen Y and X want convenience mobile, but need options biller website, walk in, and credit cards Customer centric practices are critical to increased electronic adoption 19
Next Steps in Customer Centric Bills Mobile Apps Near real time payments Aggregators 20
Q A and Contacts: Gary Nixon Director of Operations gary.nixon@gas-south.com Debbie Miglaw Director, esolutions Operations damiglaw@dstoutput.com Jerry Fitzpatrick Utility Business Development jlfitzpatrick@dstoutput.com 21
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