When businesses look at what it costs to collect payments, they rarely look beyond the cost of postage and the paper the bill is printed on, ignoring the labor that goes into the preparation and processing of each bill, which includes:
- Preparing bills
- Resolving disputes
- Processing the resulting payment
- Answering customer questions
- Reconciling bank statements
- Correcting any data errors
- Making bank deposits
- Pursuing delinquent accounts
This is where the true cost of billing lies. Due to the sheer volume of time required, over 90% of the total cost of billing comes from labor.
The following table provides insight into the amount of time it takes the average business to send bills and receive the resulting payments each month.
Average Percentage of Administrative Time
- Preparing invoices-10%
- Recording receivables and maintaining accounts-50%
- Making bank deposits and reconciling bank statements-5%
- Pursuing and handling delinquencies-35%
The ECWSA charges a number of penalties and fees to recoup the costs involved in handling delinquent accounts. They are:
- 10% per annum penalty charge on the first of each month.
- $10.00 Delinquent notice fee.
- $25.00 Administrative fee.
- $75.00 Service termination fee.
These fees might seem outrageous, but considering that more than a third of administrative time is spent on handling these accounts the fees are negligible, not even covering costs.
So, not paying bills on time costs you money and it costs the ECWSA money. Delinquent accounts are expensive for everybody!
ECWSA Delinquent Account Policies & Procedures
LATE CHARGES: Payment must be received by the last business day of the month, regardless of its postmark or the date you authorized payment. There is no grace period after the due date. No reminders will be sent. A late penalty of 10% per annum will be applied to all unpaid balances on the 1st day of each month. Failure to receive bill does not relinquish responsibility for payment or paying penalty.
NOTICE-OF-TERMINATION: If we haven’t received payment within 35 days, we will issue a pink service termination notice. This notice will indicate the date scheduled for service termination and payment instructions. Termination notices are mailed on or about the 15th of each month. A $10.00 notice fee will be added to the account. In addition, a door notice of impending service termination will be placed at least 24 hours prior to service termination.
SERVICE TERMINATION: If the account balance is still unpaid by the scheduled termination date, a work order for service termination is generated and a $25.00 administration fee will be applied to the account.
Once service has been terminated a door tag will be placed on the home or business announcing that service has been terminated and an additional $75.00 fee will be added to the account.
SERVICE REACTIVATION: Payment of account balance in full must be paid by 1:00 p.m. on a business day to reactivate service on that day. If payment is received after 1:00 p.m. service will resume on the next business day. There is an additional $75.00 service call fee for reactivating service after hours or on weekends.
This means that a delinquent account can cost our customers more than $100.00 per month!
Both the ECWSA and our customers could save a lot of time and money if account delinquencies were reduced or eliminated.
The ECWSA offers several convenient options for payment.
- At payment window during office hours.
- Drop box located at our office.
- Online credit and debit card payment via eNETPAY.
- ECWSA AutoPay-enrollment is required.
- Coming soon: Customer portal payments.
The ECWSA always recommends conserving water to save money and the environment. Another great way to save is by keeping your account current.
