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5.5.06 M.U.D. to offer bill paying by credit, debit card By early next year, customers of the Metropolitan Utilities District should be able to pay their bills by credit or debit card. The change will bring M.U.D.'s credit card policy in line with Nebraska's other major utilities and ahead of most nationally. The M.U.D. board Wednesday approved the additional $25,000 in spending needed to enable the district to accept Visa and Mastercard payments. Getting to this point has taken a couple of years and is made possible by M.U.D.'s new $8 million computer system. In recent years, Visa has targeted utilities, fast-food restaurants and governments as untapped markets for credit card business. In 2005, for example, Visa cards were used to pay about 3 percent of $182 billion in utility bills nationally, according to the company. Visa in 2004 announced a range of incentives to increase the number of utilities allowing credit card payments. M.U.D., which provides natural gas and water service, hopes to tap into some of those. The Nebraska Public Power District, Omaha Public Power District, Aquila and MidAmerican Energy are among area utilities already taking payments by credit card. Mark Weiss, senior vice president, said M.U.D.'s credit-debit card capability will be phased in. By the end of this year, credit-debit card customers should be able to pay by mail, telephone and at M.U.D. headquarters, he said. By early next year, customers should be able to pay online. The utility estimates that the credit card industry will charge M.U.D. about 2 percent on bill payments. Weiss said M.U.D. ought to get a significant share of that back through a rebate that Visa recently started for utilities that agree to allow bill paying by Visa card. The utility sees a number of other advantages to allowing credit-debit card payments, officials said. Customers will like the convenience and ability to earn rewards from their credit cards. Bad debt costs should drop, as should the cost of processing checks. Customers struggling to pay their utility bills will be able to charge them, thereby warding off costly disconnection. |
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