What about when rates are affordable, but some customers still aren’t paying their bills? It can be difficult to identify exactly why customers aren’t paying their bills. Perhaps they are frustrated with the service, find the bill paying process inconvenient or have learned that their neighbors aren’t paying, but still receive service. Perhaps they do not value the treated water service or simply chose not to take the responsibility to pay the bill. If customers in your community aren’t paying, take the time to determine why by talking with them and/or conducting an assessment.
Encouraging more customers to pay bills on time often requires a combination of tactics such as:
Here are a couple ideas of what other Tribes have done to give a little motivational boost:
Encouraging more customers to pay bills on time often requires a combination of tactics such as:
- Making the bills as affordable as possible by:
- Reducing operation and maintenance costs so that rates may be lowered.
- Connecting more customers so that cost may be spread amongst a larger base.
- Offering affordability or assistance programs for low-income, elderly and/or disabled customers.
- Making bill pay as convenient as possible by:
- Ensuring that billing is accurate and consistent.
- Offering different payment options such as by mail, phone, online or through an app.
- Allowing bills to be paid at convenient places that customers frequent such as local grocery stores or the BINGO Hall.
- Send out reminders via text or CV radio when bills are due.
- Celebrate the advantages of paying bills by:
- Offering a discount to those who pay bills ahead.
- Promoting the connection to water.
- Celebrating cultural ties to water and gratitude for access to clean water.
- Inform customers of the costs they avoid by failing to pay the bill.
- Making sure that the quality of service justifies the bill by:
- Soliciting customer feedback.
- Giving careful consideration to customer complaints and keep customers informed on how you are integrating their feedback into practice.
- Practicing transparency.
- Informing customers on exactly what their bill pays for.
- Making failure to pay the bill as unappealing as possible by:
- Putting in place clear consequences, such as shut-offs, for not paying the bills and enforcing those consequences fairly and consistently.
Here are a couple ideas of what other Tribes have done to give a little motivational boost:
- One south-central Alaskan village requires community members to apply $20 to their water/sewer bill before each day that they play BINGO (very popular in Alaska!).
- One Northwest Arctic Borough village in Alaska only allows community members to purchase from the local liquor store if they are up-to-date on their water/sewer bill.
- Many communities enforce shut-offs of water service for customers who repeatedly fail to pay bills. Shutting off service can be an effective motivator in communities where customers are able to afford their monthly bill, but choose not to pay or believe there are no consequences to not paying. However, customers should never be shut-off because they are unable to afford their monthly bill. Make sure that your community has in place a customer assistance program or support system of some sort for customers who simply don’t have enough money to pay.