20170731Report.pdf

/'itnsta
Avista Corp.
141 1 East Mission P.O.Box 3727
Spokane, Washington 99220-0500
Telephone [phone]
Toll Free 800-727-9170
July 3 1,2017
State of Idaho
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
472W. Washington St.
Boise, ID 83702-5983
Attention: Ms. Diane Hanian, Secretary
Case Nos. AVU-E-16-01 and AVU-G-16-01 - Avista Utilities Q2 2017 Fee-Free
Payment Program Report
Dear Ms. Hanian:
On April 1,2016 the Commission issued Order No. 33494 in Case Nos. AVU-E-16-01
and AVU-G-I6-01 approving Avista Corporation's, dba Avista Utilities (Avista or Company),
petition for an order authorizing accounting and ratemaking treatment of its residential fee-free
payment program. In its petition, the Company sought to defer the costs associated with offering
the fee-free payment for up to 36 months from the time the program went into effect. The fee-
free payment program was successfully launched on February 19,2017.
In its petition, the Company agreed to provide updates to the Commission every six
months about the program's progress. In the Company's Washington and Oregon jurisdictions it
agreed to provide updates to the Commission every three months. For consistency across
jurisdictions and ease of reporting, the Company will be providing updates to the Idaho
Commission every three months that coincide with the quarters of the calendar year.
llPage
Re:
Avista's residential fee-free payment program encompasses previous methods of
payments that were assessed a fee or not available. The program includes the following payment
methods and channels:
o Credit and debit card payments made through a Customer Service Representative
(CSR), through the Company's Integrated Voice Recognition (lVR) system, through
its website as a one-time guest payment, through its website as an authenticated user,
and for Automatic Payment Service (APS) payments.
o Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments made through a CSR, through the
Company's IVR system, and through its website as a one-time guest payment.
Prior to the launch of the program customers could free of charge by ACH through the
Company's website as an authenticated user and for APS payments. Also, prior to the launch of
the program APS payments were limited to only ACH payment methods.
The following table represents the residential payment information for the Company's
Idaho customers by month:
Table No. 1
Payments January February March April Mav June
Total Payments 107,528 99,241 113,264 103,934 109,422 101,928
Fiserv Payments 12,773 49,620 46,813 50,955 44,581
Fee-Free Fiserv 3,604 I 1,078 10,856 11,673 12,473
Kubra Fee-Free Equivalent*7,495 4,824
Total Fee-Free 7,495 8,429 I 1,078 10,856 11,673 12,473
Fee-Free Payments as oh of
Total 7.0%8.5%9.8%103%10.7%12.2%
*Kubra Fee-Free Equivalent - these payments represent the Kubra payments received from February l" -
l8'h that would have come through the fee-free payment program. Kubra did not process APS payments,
which Fiserv now does, including the ability for customers to sign up for APS by credit or debit card.
Table No. 2 below includes additional detail on certain payment channels. This
information is highlighted to monitor trends in customers' payment behavior.
2lPagc
Table No.2
Chart No. 1 below displays the payment trends from Table No. 2.
Chart No. 1
2017 lD Residential Payment Trends
40,000
35,OOO
30,o00
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
s,000
January February March April
<-Total APS Payments -.-'Total Card Payments +-'CSR Payments
.r-Mailed & Lobby Payments.+Pay Station Payments +Web Based Payments
o
E
Gc
o
=
May
+lVR Payments
June
Payment Method January Februarv March April May June
APS bv ACH 13,861 14,981 18,650 17,943 21,107 16,092
APS by Debit or Credit Card l0 198 467 858 914
Total APS Payments 13,861 14,991 18,848 18,410 21,965 17,006
Total Card Payments 7,041 7,828 10,096 9,898 10,757 ll,l92
CSR Payments 1,793 2,202 3,027 2,610 2,608 2,695
IVR Payments 2,668 2,918 3,506 3,356 3,428 3,823
Mailed & Lobby Payments 35,1I I 30,513 35,614 31,572 32,193 32,316
Pay Station Payments 5,821 5,452 6,033 5,558 5,521 5,147
Web Based Payments 25,363 23,196 24,201 22,401 22,925 21,010
3lPage
--4-1.
-t'-'A
For historical comparison purposes Table No. 3 displays residential payment data from
2015 and 2016. The column labeled "Payments Subject to Convenience Fee" represents the
payments that were previously charged a fee and no longer do through the Company's fee-free
payment proglam.
Table No.3
Year # of Residential
Payments
Payments Subject
to Convenience Fee
o/o of Total
2015 1,273,654 71,375 s.60%
2016 1,286,848 82,977 6.4s%
Chart No. 2 graphically shows the trend in fee-free payments in 2017 compared to the
historical annual average in 2015 and 2016.
Chart No. 2
ldaho Fee-Free Payments by Month Compared to Historical Averages
14.v/.
!2.2o/o
L2.tr/o
LO.4%L0.7"/o
9.8%
LO.tr/.
8.SYo
8,Oo/o
7.Oo/o
6.Oa/o
4.O%
2.Ao/o
o.oo/o
Jan-17 Feb- 17 May-17 Jun- I 7Mar-17 Apr-17
+2OL7
-2015Avg -2016Avg
The Company continues to work through the invoice and reconciliation process with
Fiserv. To date it has paid invoices for February and March. For these two months the
4ll'age
6.50/o
Company has paid and deferred $22,034.20 for customer transactions through the fee-free
paynent program.
Please direct any questions regarding this report to Shawn Bonfield at 509-495-2782 or
[e-mail] or myself at 509-4954975 or [e-mail]
Sincerely,
.4irda Esu/at4
Sr. Manager Regulatory Policy
Avista Utilities
5lPage