Transaction Fees

My post on our successful eBilling program generated a comment about transaction fees. Here's the scoop:

Customers who elect to use MLGW's non-enrolled payment service and pay electronically from a bank account, ATM/debit card or Discover card--either by phone or the Internet--pay an additional transaction fee charged by the vendor, Kubra. The current payment is $.85 for electronic check or debit payment, and $3.00 for Discover. We are looking to reduce these charges, if possible.

However, MLGW does not receive income from these fees, nor does the utility require customers to use this payment method--but we make it available for those who choose to use it. Many private, for profit companies simply absorb these costs and more recently, there is a trend of companies shutting down payment offices and switching to full online billing. MLGW has not eliminated any of its payment options -- we have continued to add to them so that customers have a choice in how they pay their bills.

Electronic payments made by customers enrolled in eBilling, who pay from a bank account, are not assessed a transaction fee. MLGW absorbs that small transaction cost in exchange for participating customers' enrollment in eBilling, an optional paperless billing service which yields an annual bill production savings of more than $5.00 per enrolled customer. With expanded eBilling participation, the savings will reduce MLGW's operating expenses. Every cost-saving measure MLGW implements helps the utility control its $1 billion-plus annual budget and delay the need for a rate increase.