Last week was Earth Day, an annual event promoting environmental protection. This is celebrated in 193 countries. At UJ, we are constantly looking for ways to be environmentally friendly. A suggestion that was brought up was how can we motivate people to switch to paperless utility billing?

Most companies today choose to take a digital-first approach. That is clear from the push to sign up for electronic utility bill delivery. And certain companies are additionally offering incentives to move to paperless utility billing. Hence, the question of paper v/s electronic bills continues to be debated.

Sitting down with a notebook, a calculator, and a stack of bills is an old-school approach.  It has been the go-to bill management approach in many cultures. Yet, with modern technology, is it efficient?

A segment of the population lives entirely in the digital world.  This group utilizes technology to do the following:

– Stream content online

– Message friends

– Buy goods online

– Pay bills

This segment trusts data to be accessible on their mobile devices and computers to access and pay bills online.

Yet, some individuals still prefer paper bills and may pay them with cash or checks. This is known as double-dipping. Here the consumer makes electronic payments through his bank account or billers’ websites. Yet, he continues to receive paper bills. One may ask what are the benefits of paper bills? To list a few:

– Physical reminders

– Ease of archiving

– Proof of address for recipients.

So, why go paperless? With paperless billing, you can reduce your carbon footprint while also helping the environment.  You can either receive bills through email or by using your free online account. Also, you can schedule automatic payments or pay your bills online. There are many other options to go paperless besides this argument. So let’s divide them into Pros and Cons –

PROS

Environment Protection – A paperless statement is good for the environment as it reduces paper use. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree is equal to one ton of paper every year. Paperless billing means fewer bills and fewer air pollutants from paper production. Some utility service providers give back to the environment by giving you incentives to go paperless.

Less Mail and Paper in Your Home – With lesser bills getting delivered to your home, you are contributing to reducing fuel consumption. Gives you a feeling that you did your bit to save the environment. Not to forget, you’ll spend less time sorting through bills deciding:

– What to keep

– What to throw in the trash

– What to shred.

Perks for Online Billing Statements – Like credit card companies, some utility service providers offer incentives to switch to paperless bills. These include not limited to discounts for the next few utility bills, instant discounts, etc.

Identity Theft Prevention – As statements are not mailed to you, thieves cannot get access to your personal information. Switching to paperless bills reduces the possibility of identity theft. Specially resulting from stolen mail. Some service providers have also started password protecting the bills. Even if they have the account number, they do not have the complete account number. Hence, you have extra protection in case your email account is compromised.

CONS

Easier to Miss Payments – You may forget to send your payment if you don’t receive a printed utility bill. Instead of receiving a physical bill by mail, you can print the bill out from your online account. You can file it as you would file your paper bills. You can save your bills on your computer or external drive and access them later when you need them. Most service providers make several months of billing statements accessible online. So, you may not need to save your most recent utility bills.

More Passwords to Remember – Online billing means you’ll need to remember usernames and passwords. It is not a good idea to use the same ones for all your sites. Yet, there will still be some sites that have slightly different restrictions. This will need you to come up with something different from what you usually use. Something that is more likely to be forgotten. Whenever you forget your password, simply reset it and check your bills online.

Less Access to Previous Statements – The number of bills available on the service providers could usually be limited. But if you need more, you may have to go through some extra steps and even pay a fee. To counter this you can save your bills each month and store them on your computer. This way you can access them in case you need it.

Delay in Catching Credit Card Fraud and Credit Card Changes – This issue arises especially when you have signed for autopay. However, every time your account is debited, you receive an alert from your bank. If you do not recognize the charge, you always have the option to dispute the charge.

Needed for claiming expenses – If you need to claim expenses on your tax returns, you are required to attach documents as proof. If the bills are received electronically, then you will need to print them. That’s selective printing of bills i.e. you will print only what you need and thus help save paper and environment.

Unauthorized use of your computer – This is one of the arguments which continues to come up every time one talks of paperless billing. What If someone accessed my computer behind my back? Well, mobile devices allow you to set up a password to log in. This includes your computer as well, and it is a good practice to set up login passwords. A small & simple step in environmental protection that goes a long way in saving paper and effort.

No bill in email, just a notification – Some service providers send an email stating that the utility bill is generated. To access the bill you would log in to their website. Now, one can say that it’s extra effort to simply check my bill. We’d like to counter this by saying you are still ensuring bills are not getting printed and you are able to securely access your bills.

BOTTOM LINE

Service Providers are increasingly offering customers the option of receiving utility bills and other paperwork electronically, along with online payments. Besides saving trees, going paperless can also help you save money.

If you choose not to enroll in paperless billing, you can still pay your utility bills online either directly through your service provider’s website or directly from your bank’s online bill payment service.

Whether you’re ready to go paperless or still thinking about it, utilityjunction.net is here to help you.

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