Simply Energy’s digital transformation involved overhauling its billing, CRM and payments processing systems. The last led to the company’s adoption of PayPal, which enabled it to provide its customers with the highest level of payment experience. This involved moving away from a legacy batch processing payment framework, which was slower and prone to challenges – to a system that gives customers the ability to pay how and when they want.

“Consumers can pay directly through our website or via the app, which is more efficient as they can pay at a time that suits them,” says Shah.

“We encourage our customers to engage with us if they are facing challenges in making their payments, as we have a lot of options and support in that area, in addition to new government subsidies that we can help direct them to.”

“One of the things that’s important as an energy provider, which is an essential service in Australia, is to provide support for our customers and we take that duty seriously.”

Using payments for true customer centricity

PayPal’s ability to allow customers to save their preferred payment methods and convert them into direct debits has been a game-changer for Simply Energy. This feature aligns with the company’s ethos of giving customers choice and flexibility in how they pay, and this also extends to BNPL options.

“I believe we were one of the first energy retailers to offer BNPL through PayPal. It’s a feature that we offer but don’t promote. We are an essential service, and we offer various payment options to our customers to ensure they have the flexibility to make the decisions that best suit them and pay in the way that they most prefer in every instance; especially in situations where they may be facing payment difficulties,” says Shah.

Simply energy has several initiatives to support customers beyond its formal obligations, such as its ‘Here to Help’ program where if customers are having difficulties settling their bills, the company may offer to match whatever they are able to pay.

A cornerstone of trust

Todd Atkins, the director of large enterprise at PayPal, says PayPal’s status as a reliable online payment method for utilities is grounded in trust and security.

“Using PayPal means consumers don’t have to hand over their payment credentials and security payment information to every website,” says Atkins.

“On the backend, our technologies can quickly give analysts the capabilities they need to make more accurate decisions on transactions. A graph-based case management dashboard allows enterprises to visually depict how transactions are linked through shared attributes. This means they can better analyse and understand transactions as well as automatically approve, decline or flag transactions based on unique filters.”

According to Atkins, the biggest value-add when it comes to tapping into the right technology is the substantial amount of historical transaction data from which machine learning and artificial intelligence can develop unique risk rules and algorithms.

“Using machine learning, PayPal’s risk prevention systems can detect fraud before it happens and reveal the risk before bad actors can achieve their goals — so merchants can decide whether to accept or reject a transaction within seconds,” says Atkins.

“For example, ‘device fingerprinting’ uses characteristics about the software and hardware of remote computing devices to identify unique devices and track the behaviour of devices that access a website or application.”

PayPal also plays a pivotal role in enhancing the consumer experience when handling recurring bills and transactions. The platform’s availability as a payment method to consumers across various industries, including utilities, and their favourite brands that they shop with regularly, means they are more likely to keep their payment details up to date within the PayPal wallet. This fosters approval rates and authorisation rates, reducing the incidence of failed payments.

The future is bright

Looking ahead, Atkins envisions a dynamic future for the energy and utility sector. As society transitions toward renewable energy sources, consumers will increasingly engage with energy providers in multifaceted ways.

“In a future of connected IoT devices and smart homes, we will move away from ‘here’s your electricity bill every quarter’,” says Atkins.

“It will be a world where consumers have much more interaction with energy companies who will provide a dynamic real-time view into how you can save on electricity costs and energy consumption, as well as generate energy and provide it back to the grid in the way that’s economically best for each household.”

Shah agrees, “[in the future] there will likely be multiple options available to our customers, such as buying energy, selling energy back to the grid, engaging in the wholesale market, or paying us a service fee to run their equipment for them, or renting their equipment to us when they don’t need it. I think it’ll be a combination of all these scenarios that will play out in the future and it’s going to be exciting to see it happen.”

To learn more about how ecommerce can help your business and your customers, download the PayPal Utilities E-book.