Over the past several months, the SEDC Payment Gateway has seen a steady increase in the number of payments initiated from mobile phones and other mobile devices. Once a utility deploys their branded Mobile Apps, any person visiting the utility’s BPP site from a mobile phone will be automatically routed to the Mobile Web App to make that payment – even if their phone does not have the utility’s Mobile App installed.
In December, a mid-sized utility in Mississippi took in just 0.57% of their payments from mobile devices using their Mobile Web App or their branded Mobile Apps. In February, that same utility took in 3.68% of their payments from mobile devices! Another Mississippi utility saw a 2.61% rate of mobile payments in December and 4.33% in February. A Texas utility received over 8% of their online payments from mobile phones in February, up almost 3% compared to December. These types of increases are reflected for every utility that made the decision to offer their consumers a mobile-friendly way to manage their accounts and pay their bills.
Over 80% of Americans have a cell phone, and just over a third of those are smart phones capable of navigating the internet and installing “apps.” Most UPN users have already adopted the Alerts & Reminders system to send text messages directly to those phones, so why not give those customers a convenient, secure, mobile-friendly site so they can make their payments quickly and easily as soon as they get that reminder? If you’d like to make your utility mobile-friendly, contact SEDC and ask for more information about our branded Mobile Apps.