Abilene, Kansas: To help keep costs down for residents while making it easier for them to receive and pay utility bills, the City of Abilene is pleased to announce a new service—Online Billing & Payments.

Utility customers are able to register to receive their bills online rather than via the mail, saving Abilene the cost of printing and mailing bills. Now, customers participating in online billing receive emails when their bills are ready for viewing. They simply click through and the bill appears with all the information they would have received on a paper bill. “This is a win for everyone involved,” said David Dillner, City Manager. “We spend 28¢ in just postage to mail an average bill to a customer. Add to that costs for paper, upkeep on printing equipment, labor—it is costly. The cost to post a bill for online viewing is about a penny. It is just one way we are holding down costs for our customers.”

Customers can also pay from the comfort of their homes, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. They can go to the City’s website at www.abilenecityhall.com to pay by checking/savings account. They can also call a toll-free automated phone payment service to pay by credit or debit card. Residents can set up Auto-Pay and not have to worry about making payments each month. Auto-payments can be for the amount of the bill or a set budgeted amount. To pay online by check or savings is a free service; however, a small fee of $2.99 is charged for paying by credit/debit card to cover the cost of fees charged to the City.

“We would like our customers to sign up for online billing to help us reduce costs,” said Dillner.
“However, if they prefer to have paper bills sent, they can still go online to pay their utility bills; that
helps us save money, too.” Of course, online billing and payments are a Green initiative as well. “It’s great to do something that benefits our residents while at the same time being kinder to the environment,” commented Dillner.

Security of online information is always a concern, so when the City looked for a company to provide online bills and payments, that was a top consideration. They chose Payment Service Network (PSN) which has attained Level 1 Certification by the Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard (PCIDSS), the highest degree of security awarded by the industry. PSN specializes in providing billing,payment and communication services to utility companies and municipalities. The company was a pioneer in the online payment industry and is based in Madison, Wisconsin.

To register for online billing, residents can go to home page and click on the "Online Payments" icon on the upper right hand side of the page. If residents have any questions, they can call PSN’s HELP line, toll free at 1-866-917-7368.