Payment Channels
A Case Study of Payment Practices
Julie Compton Pellizzi
Project Leader
Customer Solutions Technology
About AGL Resources
• Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia
• Approximately 2,400 employees
• Serves more than 2.2 million average customers through
natural gas utilities in six states
• Largest marketer in Georgia under the Georgia Natural Gas
brand through majority ownership of SouthStar
• Diversified operations include asset management with
Sequent Energy Management and gas storage projects in
Louisiana and Texas.
About AGL Resources
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Atlanta Gas Light
Chattanooga Gas
Elizabethtown Gas
Elkton Gas
Florida City Gas
Virginia Natural Gas
Distribution Operations
Elkton
ETG
VNG
CGC
AGL
FCG
Atlanta Gas Light
• More than 1.5 million
average customers as of
June 30,2007
• Function to sell retail
natural gas deregulated
since 1997
• Currently 12 marketers
Chattanooga Gas
• 62,000 average
customers as of
June 30, 2007
• Serves Hamilton
and Bradley
counties in
southeast TN
Elizabethtown Gas
• 272,000 average customers
as of June 30, 2007
• Serves Union, Middlesex,
Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon,
Morris and Mercer counties
Elkton Gas
• 6,000 average customers as
of June 30, 2007
• Serves Greater Elkton on
Maryland’s Eastern shore
Florida City Gas
• 104,000 average
customers as of
June 30, 2007
• Serves MiamiDade and Brevard
counties
Virginia Natural Gas
• 271,000 customers
as of June 30, 2007
• Serves
Southeastern VA
Electronic Commerce
• 7,806,447 = EDI transactions for 2006
• Supply Chain
– Purchase Orders
– Invoices
– Vendor Payments
Electronic Commerce – Part Two
• North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB)
Transactions
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Available No-Notice Withdrawal for Operator – G873ANNW & G873ANNI
Pre-Determined Allocation – G873PDAL
Request for Confirmation – G873RQCF
Confirmation Response – G873RRFC
Scheduling – G873SQOP
Enrollments / Response – Original, Changes and Drops
Historical and Monthly Meter Usage - 867
Energy Service Provider Invoicing & Application Advice – 810 & 824
Electronic Commerce – Part Three
• How do we handle customers’ gas payments?
• How do we incorporate six utilities’ regulatory
requirements?
– Multiple Channels
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Lockbox
Electronic
Walk-in
Collection Agencies
Natural Gas Payments
• Payment Methods
– ACH/CTX/CIE – various online banking tools or
corporate functions
– IVR - Speedpay
– Web - Speedpay
– Recurring – authorized monthly withdrawals
• Payment Types
– ACH (checking, savings, money market)
– Credit Cards, ATM Cards, Pin-less Debit Cards
Payment Partners
Over 180,000 transactions/month:
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Certegy (Fidelity BillPay®)
CheckFree
CheckFreePay
Global Express
MasterCard RPPS®
Metavante
Online Resources
WesternUnion® Speedpay®
Western Union Speedpay is a registered service mark
of E Commerce Group Products, Inc.
AGL Resources Case Study
Payment practices using Western Union Speedpay
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Ten + years ago – “check by phone” concept patented
Check writing software installed – DOS based
Physically printed checks and mailed to lockbox
Upgraded to Windows version
Migration to the Speedpay ASP extranet application
Service Overview
Many channels maximize payment acceptance capabilities
Walk In
IVR
Cash
ACH
Credit Card
Internet
Debit Card
Desktop
ATM
WU Call Center
ACH
eBill/ Payments
AGL
Resources
Credit Card
Debit Card
Outbound Msg
ATM
WU Payment Channel / Type Currently Utilized
Service Overview
05/03: Chattanooga Gas (CGC) & Virginia Natural Gas (VNG)
• Go Live on Extranet
01/05: VNG adds IVR & Internet Channels
03/05: CGC adds IVR & Internet Channels
06/05: Elkton Gas, Elizabethtown Gas & Florida City Gas
• Go Live on Extranet, IVR & Internet
09/06: Rollout of payments accepted via API
Electronic Payment Volume
May 2003 – May 2007
YEAR
VOLUME
2003 - 2004
61,538
2004 - 2005
113,236
2005 - 2006
319,793
YEAR 4
YEAR 3
YEAR 2
2006 - 2007
387,903
YEAR 1
Payment Trends
Distribution of electronic payments by type
2003 - 2004
2004 - 2005
2005 - 2006
2006 - 2007
CSR
ASSISTED
100%
85%
39%
31%
SELF SERVE
0%
15%
61%
69%
Payment Trends
Distribution of electronic payments by interface
2003 - 2004
2004 - 2005
2005 - 2006
2006 - 2007
Channel
%
Channel
%
Channel
%
Channel
%
CSR
100
CSR
85
CSR
39
CSR
17
IVR
0
IVR
7
IVR
25
IVR
21
WEB
0
WEB
8
WEB
36
WEB
48
API
0
API
0
API
0
API
14
Payment Trends
Distribution by payment type
2003 - 2004
2004 - 2005
2005 - 2006
2006 - 2007
PMT
%
PMT
%
PMT
%
PMT
%
ACH
100
ACH
68
ACH
58
ACH
60
ATM
0
ATM
2
ATM
6
ATM
6
CARD
0
CARD
30
CARD
36
CARD
34
Electronic Volumes
Before & after fee addition
03/05: Same Fee
Across all Channels*
'06-'07
'05-'06
'04-'05
'03-'04
YEAR
2003 - 2004
2004 - 2005
2005 - 2006
2006 - 2007
VOLUME
61,538
113,236
319,793
387,903
* With the NUI acquisition, some payments were coming in through another vendor,
but were migrated to Speedpay
Current & Future Initiatives
Web Services
Real-time integration via Web services
• Current Initiatives
– Performs Web service call to execute a payment transaction
• Future Initiatives
– Account validation lookup using a Web service call
Current & Future Initiatives
Flexible Pricing Models
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Continue to refine payment options
Modification to payment model possible
Customer service portal
Electronic Bill Presentment
Current & Future Initiatives
Potential Additional Channels
• Online Banking Payments
• Recurring Payments
• Outbound Messaging
– Can be integrated with payment IVR
• Mobile/SMS Payments
• Electronic Bill Presentment
Current & Future Initiatives
Consumer Marketing Campaign Assistance
• Create awareness & educate consumers
• Past and future plans service:
*Postcards/Direct Mail
*Statement Messaging
*Email Messaging
*IVR Messaging
*Couponing
*Web Messaging
*Bill Stuffers
*Magnets
Current & Future Initiatives
Consumer marketing campaign assistance