Remote Control Bills
The Age
Monday April 10, 2000
Paying a bill is rarely an exciting task. But it has become at least less time-consuming with the advent of electronic billing systems.
The old cheque-in-the-mail way of paying for water, gas and electricity is going out of favor among time-strapped consumers.
It's now easier to pay either by phone or at post offices, and settle bills including car registration and mobile phone accounts, and even school fees, in the one place. Australia Post is agent for 370 businesses and says about 40 per cent of Australian bill-paying is done through its branches.
The next step in bill-paying - and it is already with us - is the paperless method of receiving and sending bills via the Internet.
Last month, the first Australian-based fully electronic billing site, called e-BILL, was launched. Consumers register with e-BILL by completing a form on its website, including credit card number, and the information is cross-verified with the biller's records.
Once accepted, e-BILL sends a short e-mail alerting the user when a bill is waiting for them. The user goes to the e-BILL website, enters their log-in and password and are told they have a number of unpaid bills.
The user clicks on "unpaid bills" and is told which bills and what amount is due and when. They can pay now, pay later or file the bill away.
If you choose "pay now", you can pay via Visa, Mastercard, Bankcard, Diners or Amex card (direct savings debit is not yet available). As a security safeguard, users enter their credit card number only once, when registering, and thereafter identify it via a specified password code. Press "confirm" and the bill is paid.
e-BILL's biggest selling point is that it is free. The service profits by charging billers per transaction, but in turn e-BILL claims these billing companies save more than 15 per cent of their existing costs by electronic billing.
The major drawback is that so far only two subscribers - NorthPower (northern NSW electricity company) and telephone company WorldxChange Communications - are "live" on the system. However, Mr Charlton says another seven companies have signed, including phone company Newtel, power firm United Energy and legal and accounting publishers CCH Australia.
e-BILL's competitor, BPAY, lets you pay bills by phone or Internet, but won't be able to send bills to customers via the Internet until later this year. But BPAY has the electronic bill-paying market cornered in all other respects.
BPAY is offered through most (more than 60) financial institutions in Australia, including the big four banks, St George and Bendigo Bank, and handles bills for more than 2700 companies.
A staggering $900 million worth of bills in Australia was paid through BPAY last month alone. BPAY national business manager Linda Hemstrom estimates that roughly 7 per cent of Australian bills are currently paid via BPAY.
To use BPAY, you first have to be registered for telephone or Internet banking at your bank. If your bill has a BPAY logo, next to that logo will be a biller code and a customer number.
To BPAY via telephone, you ring your bank, select the BPAY option, enter the biller code and customer number and how much you want to pay, and select your account. You can pay via cheque, savings or credit card account. The bank will give you a receipt number and the bill is paid.
To pay via the Internet, you log on to your bank's Internet site, select BPAY and enter the biller code and customer number, then select which account you wish to pay with from the list presented to make the payment. The receipt comes up on the screen, which can be printed out.
Ms Hemstrom says users have privacy in being in a "secure session" after entering the password and codes, with no third party privy to the information.
Paying bills via BPAY is usually charged by banks as a transaction. For example, ANZ charges 40 cents per transaction paid by savings account, with eight fee-free transactions per month, and credit card transactions are free.
Australia Post is beginning its own electronic billing service, which is due to be trialled later this month. Customers will be able to receive and pay bills through the Australia Post website. Australia Post managing director Graeme John expects that within three years more than 500,000 Australians will be paying more than 20 million bills per year using this service.
Australian Consumers Association finance spokesman Dan Coyne says the convenience of electronic bill-paying is a positive, and is now less expensive than over-the-counter bank transactions.
On the issue of security, he says: "When you do make the move to something remote, electronic, there is always a risk inherent to that, but I think it really is in the interests of the institutions to make it as secure as possible."
One hardly needs reminding that not all Australians use the Internet.
And the Australian Bureau of Statistics has also found that in the three months to November 1999, only 3.9 per cent of Australian adults paid bills or transferred funds using the Internet.
Perhaps we are still to be convinced of electronic billing's efficiency & security.
At a site near you
* About 40 per cent of bills are paid at Australia Post branches.
* e-BILL now offers online electronic bill-paying.
* BPAY lets you pay bills by phone or Internet.
© 2000 The Age