A recap of the NEPPA Credit Collections Roundtable (Tuesday, March 4, 2014)

There were 34 attendees representing 18 municipal utilities across Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. With such a good response, it was decided to break everyone into four smaller groups to foster dialogue among the topics covered. After small group discussions, the group leaders were asked to share their points of view with the larger audience and then discuss further. Everyone was again re-assigned a different small group to repeat the process with new topics.

Credit topics:

What policies are in place for customer ‘move-ins’ who have past balances and/or bad payment history? Does your utility have a ‘security deposit’ policy? If so, how much? What are the criteria for ‘installment plans’ at your utility? What assistance does your utility provide to low income customers?

Collections topics:

What is the typical number of days from the original billing date to ‘final’ warning letter to termination day? Besides the notices required by regulation, what are the unique notices that work best for your utility (Automated robo-call? / Internet? / Email? / Texting)? What is the practice for termination for non-payment (Door knocks / Hanger / remote termination)? What is the practice for restoring customers from termination for non-payment? What are the fees for restoral? How many customers can you typically terminate for non-payment in one day?

Utility representatives were requested to bring sample customer notices and / or form letters which were scanned and sent to attendees later in an email.

Overall, the attendees appeared to like the format because they could interact with people they didn't know and had more personal discussions pertaining to Credit Collections topics. In general, attendees of ‘roundtable’ experiences find it very helpful to learn how other utilities perform their credit collection practices.

Scott Munn, from ONLINE Utility Exchange, sponsored the event

The Customer Service Committee is scheduled to have our Annual Customer Service Conference at the Hawthorne Hotel, Located in Salem, MA on September 10, 2014. Please keep an eye out for more information this summer!

Joe Sollecito has announced that after seven years as Chairperson of NEPPA’s Customer Service Committee, he has decided to step down. Maureen Hanifan from Reading Municipal Light Department has agreed to accept the Chairperson’s role. Maureen will be looking to recruit new members for the Customer Service Committee. If you are interested, please contact Maureen at (781) 942-6480.