REMITTANCE PROCESSING AT
CPS ENERGY
Presented BY
SYLVIA M ARNOLD
DIRECTOR OF CUSTOMER SERVICES
SPETEMBER 25, 2007
Table of Contents
• Meet CPS Energy
•
•
Then and Now
Drivers of Change
2
Meet CPS Energy
• Nation’s largest municipally owned provider of
both electricity and gas
• Acquired by City of San Antonio in 1942
• 630,000+ electric customers and and 310,000+
gas customers and growing
• 8th largest city in U.S.
• Provide 20% of City’s operating budget
• Bills among lowest in nation
• Highest financial rating of any electric system
3
Meet CPS Energy
J D POWER 2007 RESIDENTIAL
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION STUDY
• # 9 in the Nation; #2 in South Region
• Nationally ranked First Quartile in :
Customer Satisfaction
Company Image
Price and Value
Communications
Billing & Payments
4
Customer Payment Methods
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
61.1%
49.0%
19.4%
13.3%
Jan-04
Jan-06
22.7%
11.7%
7.5%
7.5%
4.5%3.3%
Other
Online/Electron
ic
Pay Agents
Window Teller
Mail
Percent of Transactions
Then and Now
Payment Method
5
What Changed?
•
•
•
•
THEN
Limited # of Pay Stations
Daily pick-up of cash by armored car
Limited functionality of pay stations (no
partial or delinquent payments)
No credit card or electronic check
payments
6
What Changed?
•
•
•
•
•
•
NOW
Over 100 Pay Agents
Payments received electronically
Partnered with BillMatrix for credit card
and electronic check payments
BillPower and Striata for e-billing
Electronic ACH
Direct On-line Payment files
7
ACH
• Percent of ACH payments remains
constant at .5%.
• Customers formerly sending check and
lists now sending ACHs with addenda
records
• ACH file converted then uploaded.
• Posted the business day after the payment
is posted to CPS Energy’s bank account
8
ONLINE PAYMENTS
• Increased from 2.7% to 7.6%
• Checkfree was our first provider of an
electronic file with online payments
• Currently receive files from six providers
• Posted between 7 and 9 A.M. the morning
file is received
9
DIRECT DEBIT
• Our product is called AutoPay
• Percent remains fairly constant. Was
4.2% and is now 4.4%
• Most convenient way to pay
• Communicating benefits to customers
• Automatically posted on the due date
10
PAY AGENTS
•
•
•
•
Over 100 agents in Bexar County
Includes all HEB’S and Walmarts
Increased from 7.5% to 11.7%
Can handle both partial payments and
delinquent payments
• Payments posted electronically between 7
and 9 A.M. the following business day.
11
BILL MATRIX
• Partnership initiated in July 2004
• Provides telephone electronic checks,
online electronic checks through Bill Matrix
website, and credit card payments
• 4% payments
• Customer pays usage fee.
12
BILLPOWER
• E-bill presentment and payment through
in-house product
• First offered in December 2004
• Residential Customer Program
• 6% of payments received
• Emergis challenge
• SAP lawsuit pending against Emergis
13
STRIATA
• Third party provider
• Pilot program for large commercial
customers with multiple accounts
• Mixed reviews
14
OTHER
• Still receive most payments through the
mail.
• Have 3 walk-in facilities with tellers
• Still have drop boxes
15
Payment Statistics – December 2006
Current Month
Dec 06
556,105
Last Year
Dec 05
542,396
% Diff. from
Last Year
2.5%
YTD
Jan 06 - Dec 06
7,061,397
Last YTD
Jan 05 - Dec 05
6,949,179
% Diff. from
Last YTD
1.6%
$125,521,476
$131,296,576
-4.4%
$1,812,596,489
$1,807,486,238
0.3%
Electronic Payments
% Electronic Payments
225,135
40.5%
180,851
33.3%
24.5%
21.4%
2,681,191
38.0%
2,017,856
29.0%
32.9%
30.8%
Mail Payments
% Mail Payments
250,025
45.0%
268,686
49.5%
-6.9%
-9.2%
3,262,571
46.2%
3,570,924
51.4%
-8.6%
-10.1%
Window Payments
% Window Payments
67,811
12.2%
77,907
14.4%
-13.0%
-15.1%
921,395
13.0%
1,136,089
16.3%
-18.9%
-20.2%
Pay Agents ^
% Pay Agents
64,474
11.6%
56,630
10.4%
13.9%
11.0%
823,646
11.7%
702,701
10.1%
17.2%
15.3%
Online Payments ^
% Online Payments
55,102
9.9%
43,510
8.0%
26.6%
23.5%
618,734
8.8%
450,909
6.5%
37.2%
35.0%
BillPower Payments ^
% BillPower Payments
49,866
9.0%
30,168
5.6%
65.3%
61.2%
526,954
7.5%
211,617
3.0%
149.0%
145.1%
Bill Matrix ^
% Bill Matrix
28,073
5.0%
22,691
4.2%
23.7%
20.7%
355,070
5.0%
314,028
4.5%
13.1%
11.3%
AutoPay ^
% AutoPay
23,346
4.2%
24,960
4.6%
-6.5%
-8.8%
314,349
4.5%
301,753
4.3%
4.2%
2.5%
Night Box
% Night Box
13,134
2.4%
14,952
2.8%
-12.2%
-14.3%
196,240
2.8%
222,878
3.2%
-12.0%
-13.4%
ACH/Wire ^
% ACH/Wire
3,438
0.6%
2,892
0.5%
18.9%
15.9%
40,968
0.6%
36,848
0.5%
11.2%
9.4%
Striata ^
% Striata
836
0.2%
0
0.0%
-
1,470
0.0%
0
0.0%
-
Payments Received
Dollars Received
^ Amounts included in Electronic Payments total.
16
Payment Options
Payment Methods – Jan. 2006 – Dec. 2006
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
46.2%
13.0%
11.7%
8.8%
7.5%
5.0%
4.4%
2.8%
0.6%
-
U.S. mail
In person at CPS Energy service center
107 separate pay agent locations
Online banking payments
CPS Energy BillPower
BillMatrix
AutoPay
Payment drop box
Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) and Wire
17
Costs of Payment Options
Payment Option
Pay agent locations
AutoPay
BillMatrix
CPS Energy BillPower
Online banking
Payment drop box
U.S. mail
ACH
In person at CSC
Wire
Cost to
Customer
$1.00
0.00
2.95
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.39
~1.00
0.00
~8.00
Cost to
CPS Energy
$0.04
0.07
0.07
0.08
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.58
1.71
9.09
18
Questions and Comments
Questions and Comments
19