E-Bill Adoption - Utilities vs Other Sectors

CONSUMER TRENDS DRIVING PAPERLESS BILLING

E-BILL ADOPTION – UTILITIES VRS OTHER SECTORS

Despite a significant growth spike in the electricity sector in 2021, industries like telecom and the banking sector continue to boast e-billing adoption rates of 50% and higher, while the rate of adoption among members is currently 40% (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Energy Utilities vs Other Sectors E-billing Penetration Rate: 2017-2021

25% 35% 43% 52% 40%

43%

52%

62%

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Telecom Banking/Financial Insurance Energy Utilities

Source: Annual state of Transactional communication survey, Key point intelligence -Info Trends, 2017 Except for Energy utility data, other sector e-billing data was forecasted for 2021

The telecom sector boasts over 60% of their customers on digital bills. Research indicates that most telecom companies in Canada have already considered a full auto-enablement of customers to digital bills. All major wireless carriers have migrated their flagship brands to electronic-only billing with no paper billing option (exceptions include persons with disabilities, senior citizens etc.).

Since 2018, Telus, and its subsidiary brand Koodo, started to notify their customers who still received paper bills that they will be getting e-bills for the foreseeable future. A similar announcement was made by Rogers, Bell, and SaskTel in 2019. This move has allowed telecom companies to quickly migrate their customers to e-bills without significant investments in marketing initiatives. Customer service models in these sectors are rapidly shaping utilities’ customer expectations.

Our analysis shows that the growth in e-billing numbers is directly proportional to the growth in the customer base. By establishing e-bills as the default mode and paper bills as the “opt-in” option for new customers, utilities will be able to gain approximately 95% new customer enrollments for paperless. Last year, more than 70% of members who participated in the survey stated that although they do not auto enroll their customers, they do attempt to make the customer account default to e-billing during the sign-up phase. Last year, two members, BC Hydro and Hydro One launched an auto enrollment pilot program for customers who have email addresses on file. SaskPower, Saint John Energy, NB Power, Nova Scotia Power, Utilities Kingston, London Hydro, and Oakville Hydro are all planning auto enrollment initiatives in 2021. It is anticipated that the growth rate in overall e-billing rates in the sector will increase significantly in 2022 because of these planned initiatives.