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City Public Service Adds BillMatrix
Telephone and
Internet Bill Payment Service
Responded to Customer Requests for Convenience
and Speed
DALLAS, Texas – August 5, 2004 – City Public
Service (CPS), Greater San Antonio’s natural gas and
electricity provider, went live with a new payment service
that allows consumers to pay their bills by phone or online
24 hours a day, seven days a week. The service is provided
through CPS’ partner BillMatrix Corporation, who hosts
the secured website and the dedicated 1-800 telephone number
where consumers pay with a credit card, ATM/debit card or
ACH/electronic check on-demand, without having to register
for the service.
“We conducted a thorough review of the market, and
determined that BillMatrix best met our needs and those of
our customers,” said Sylvia Arnold, CPS’ director
of customer services. “We try to ensure that we are
easy to do business with, offering services that are convenient,
fast and simple to use. The on-demand nature of the BillMatrix
system has been well received; it has been up for only a few
days, and our customers are already taking advantage of these
new payment methods.”
The advantages of offering multiple payment methods go beyond
customer convenience. For example, BillMatrix has strong connections
to the ATM networks, can validate that funds are available
and set them aside for the bill payment. CPS benefits from
faster cash flow, elimination of insufficient fund items (NSF’s)
and reduced disconnection/reconnection costs. The ACH/electronic
check option is backed up with BillMatrix’ sophisticated,
multi-layered Enhanced Check Verification™ service to
determine – in real-time – the anticipated status
of each transaction. This also minimizes the likelihood of
NSF’s, while maximizing the number of good payments
that flow through the labor- and cost-saving automated system.
“We are happy to add CPS to our long list of clients,
which includes 40% of the nation’s leading utilities”
said Jerry Portocalis, BillMatrix’ senior vice president
of sales and marketing. “They are delivering on their
promise to meet changing expectations by offering these payment
options in a direct response to customer requests. This client
is also a milestone for BillMatrix, as we now offer consumers
in every major city in Texas access to convenient, secure,
and reliable electronic payment methods.”
About City Public Service
CPS is the nation’s largest municipally owned energy
company providing both natural gas and electric service. Acquired
by the City of San Antonio in 1942, CPS serves more than 600,000
electric customers and more than 300,000 natural gas customers
in and around the eighth largest city in the U. S. Proceeds
from CPS remain in San Antonio and account for more than one-fifth
of the City’s annual operating budget for police and
fire protection, street improvements, parks and other services.
CPS has earned the highest financial rating of any electric
system in the nation. More CPS information can be found on
the Web at www.citypublicservice.com. CPS is a registered
trademark of City Public Service.
About BillMatrix Corporation
BillMatrix Corporation provides outsourced payment services
for the nation’s largest companies using the latest
automated consumer interface technologies. Founded in 1994
and headquartered in Dallas, BillMatrix works with corporations
in the telecommunications, utility, insurance, mortgage and
financial services industries to replace expensive, paper-based
methods of remittance with a set of convenient, labor- and
cost-saving electronic transactions. Consumers are able to
make payments in a private and secure manner, via the Internet
and telephone, using a variety of credit card, ATM/debit card,
and electronic check payment options. BillMatrix maintains
a fully staffed customer service organization to support both
its clients and their consumers with any payment issues. For
more information, visit www.BillMatrix.com or call (800) 596-0221.
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