Want to cut out one more envelope from your bill basket? Sign up for emailed billing by the City of Asheville Customer Service Division and get your combined services statement sent directly to your inbox.
Since the beginning of September, Customer Services staff have been stuffing notices into combined services statements, which include billing for water, sanitation, recycling and stormwater utility, that inform customers of the ability to sign up for email billing and opt out of a paper statement.
“People have been requesting this for awhile. There’s a lot of interest,” says Customer Services Superintendent Florie Presnell. “We’ve been excited to see the response.”
Since the division was upgraded to the city’s Munis data managing system in 2011, the e-billing option became a possibility, and already several hundred people have opted for email statements since the start of September.
The switch to the Munis system came out of the Business Technology Improvement Project, approved by Asheville City Council in 2009.
Email billing represents a real cost savings to the city, Presnell says. The Customer Service Division sends out roughly 300,000 statements a year to 56,000 water customers. Moving the entire operation to email would save the city thousands in postage alone, not to mention greatly reducing paper usage.
“It is the environmentally friendly thing to do,” Presnell continues. “And customers with email billing will get their bill on the same day it is processed.”
Want to sign up for e-billing? Look for the form in the latest combined utility bill and return it to the enclosed address. Or email egovutility@ashevillenc.gov.
Click here for information about paying your combined service statement online and eliminating paper from billing.