As the result of a listserv question, the previous Utility Information Pipeline included a poll asking how utilities notify customers after they have been cut off for non-payment.

Poll results

The poll results overwhelmingly confirmed my observation that most utilities do one of two things to let a customer know they have been cut off – leave a door hangar or do nothing at all.

Here are the results of the poll:

Contact by phone or e-mail

Three responses indicated they contact customers by phone or e-mail. (Although, based on one of the comments, I suspect one of the phone call responses misunderstood the poll and indicated how they contact customers before being cut off).

I was initially surprised that some utilities take the time to phone or e-mail accounts that have been disconnected for non-payment. After discussing this with a customer, I realized some utilities have good reason to do so. Utilities that serve customers who aren’t year-round residents (for example, beach communities) might want to let non-resident customers know their service has been terminated.

Another year is almost behind us

This issue marks the fourth anniversary of the Utility Information Pipeline. Subscribers continue to increase, by over 10% this year.

If you have co-workers or colleagues from other utilities who you feel would benefit from reading this newsletter, please take a minute and forward this to them.

This year also marked a milestone with the 100th issue!

If you haven’t checked out my blog recently, I encourage you to do so. Each Utility Information Pipeline newsletter article is also posted to my blog as an archive. So, if you can’t find an old newsletter e-mail that you wish you still had, try searching for it on my blog.

April of this year was the busiest month ever for my blog with 894 page views and November 26 was the most active day ever with 235 hits.

Most popular blog posts

For the third year in a row, convenience fees were the most popular blog post topic. Here are the five most popular blog posts in terms of page views for the past year:

1. Can we charge a convenience fee for credit card payments…?
2. How much is your late fee?
3. Do you have a cash handling policy?
4. Are you following these meter reading best practices?
5. Who trains your new hires…?

Ideas, anyone…?

After four years, topics to write about aren’t as easy to come up with as they were when I first started! If you have an idea or suggestion of a topic that you would like to learn more about, please give me a call at 919-673-4050 or e-mail me at gsanders@edmundsgovtech.com.

Happy New Year!

I wish you and yours all the best for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2015!