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How Utility Companies Can Become More Effective in Billing & Mailroom Processing

Utility companies have special needs when it comes to billing and mailroom processing. On the billing front, utility companies are quite different from subscription products, which typically feature a fixed, recurring cost, as well as one-time product/service sales, which don’t require the creation of subsequent billings.

Unlike many other service providers, utility companies must invoice customers and collect payments of constantly varying amounts on a monthly basis. For many water, gas, and electric companies throughout the U.S., billing and payment processing require a large number of internal resources.

We believe it doesn’t have to be that way.

Through process automation, InStream aims to disrupt the “business as usual” attitude in the utility industry (water, electric, gas, phone, Internet, TV and more).

Utility Companies Utilizing Mailroom Services

An outsourced mailroom can be a powerful tool in managing inbound correspondence. With outsourced mailroom, InStream would receive your mail, sort it into customer-defined categories, and release it into a document management system where it can automatically route to the appropriate persons for processing. Whether it’s a change of address notifications, account updates, cancellation of services, customer service requests, or any other type of correspondence, we can free your team from the mailroom process and ensure the right mail is routed to the right people in your company.

In addition, outsourced mailroom services can free up large parts of your business’s payment processing workflow. Utility companies that outsource their mailroom services enjoy the benefit of having a third-party manage payment collection. With InStream’s virtual lockbox services, we can deposit payments remotely to your bank, create deposit files that can be imported into your AP system, and provide you with copies of checks and remittance advices for your records.

We can even work with your company to develop a payment portal that merges credit card payments with your lockbox processing systems, making it easier for customers who prefer online payment methods.

Bill Presentation & Mailing Processes

With so many customers and data fields to populate on any given utility bill, automating the process of creating and sending bills is a must.

With intuitive printing, customer’s bills can be automatically generated and mailed to the customer at a defined time interval to allow for delivery and on-time customer payment. All necessary data can be gathered from your company’s databases and populated into the appropriate locations on the bill. Different templates can be created based on the state of the customer’s account, services provided, or other factors determined by the business.

Both large and small batch printing are options for InStream’s utility clients. While many companies only handle large batch printing, we’re proud to offer flexibility to meet your scaling needs.

Could InStream’s Billing and Mailroom Services Improve Your Utility Company?

Contact us to find out how we can implement these solutions for your utility company.