Con Edison Goes Green to Promote Paperless Billing Stuart Williams, CheckFree, now part of Fiserv Eric Leiserson, CheckFree, now part of Fiserv Utility

Con Edison Goes Green to Promote Paperless Billing

Stuart Williams, CheckFree, now part of Fiserv

Eric Leiserson, CheckFree, now part of Fiserv

Utility Payments Conference

2© 2008 National Automated Clearing House Association. All rights reserved.

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Genesis of PayItGreenWhat we know

Sending and receiving electronic payments is a “green” choice.

Receiving electronic bills and statements is a “green” choice.

Research finds 85% of consumers are willing to change their consumption habits to make tomorrow’s world a better place [Edelman goodpurpose study]

81% agree individuals are personally obligated to act [Simmons Winter 2008 NCS/NHCS Recontact Study]

75% agree a company should help consumers be eco-friendly [Simmons Winter 2008 NCS/NHCS Recontact Study]

© 2008 National Automated Clearing House Association. All rights reserved.

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Genesis of PayItGreenFinding opportunity in the gap

78% households receive paper checking acct statements

72% households receive paper savings acct statements

75% households receive paper credit card bills

25% of all household mail volume is transactions sent and received

58% of household first-class mail is transactions sent and receivedJavelin Research & Strategy

USPS Household Diary


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49% of total respondents say “they choose paperless/ electronic statements to reduce the amount of paper used whenever possible.”Simmons Winter 2008 NCS/NHCS Recontact Study

Genesis of PayItGreenFinding opportunity in the gap


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New behaviors are rarely adopted only on “issue” attitudes or opinions. There must be real [or perceived] improved personal benefits such as convenience and safety.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

CONVENIENT EASY TO USE SECURE/SAFE TOUSE

RELIABLE FLEXIBLE ENVIRONMENTALLYFRIENDLY

BEHAVIORAL GREENS

THINK GREENS

POTENTIAL GREENS

TRUE BROWNS

Answers “To What Extent Do You Agree/Disagree With Each Statement Regarding Paperless/Electronic Services.” - Any Agree

Simmons Winter 2008 NCS/NCS Recontact Study

Importance of Safe, Simple Smart


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Members of the Alliance

Bank of America; BillMatrix; Capital One; CheckFree (now part of Fiserv); Citi; Citizens Bank; EPN; Harris Bank; the Federal Reserve Banks; Fiserv; JPMorgan Chase; the Regional Payment Associations; SunTrust Bank; U.S. Bank; Wachovia; Wells Fargo.

AT&T, Con Edison, and Qwest Communications are special advisors to the Alliance.

NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association is coordinating PayItGreen.


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Goal

Inform and educate consumers and businesses about the positive environmental impacts and personal benefits—simple, safe, smart—of choosing electronic payments, bills, and statements to manage their finances.


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Framework

The AllianceDeveloped the message Created the lookBuilt the brand Launched PayItGreen

The BusinessIntegrates PayItGreen across “touchpoints”Drives the switch by asking customers to

Assess the paper payments, bills, and statementsAsk for electronic payments, bills, and statementsAct to stop the paper payment, bill, and statement


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Research findings make the PayItGreen case

Source: Dove Consulting

Foundation


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Research Finds ANNUAL Collective Impact

1 in 5 Households

The annual environmental impact of 1 in 5 PayItGreen households is long lasting

Save over 150 million pounds of paper

Save over 1.8 million trees

Avoid filling 8,597,238 garbage bags

Avoid filling 6,141 garbage trucks

Avoid consuming 102,945,600 gallons of gas

Avoid creating 1,439,601,370 gallons of wastewater


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Research FindsANNUAL Collective Impact

1 in 5 Households

Avoid producing almost 2 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually – the equivalent of

Not driving 3,861,769,517 miles

Taking 325,722 cars off the road

Not consuming 200 million gallons of gas

Planting 45.6 million trees and allowing them to grow 10 years

Preserving 12,405 acres of forest


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payitgreen.org

Appealing, factual, relevant with clear call to action


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Proving the Relevance


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PayItGreen Business

Executing across business lines

Logo, graphic, samples library

“Plug and Play” calculators, video, audio


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PayItGreen Pays Off

65% increase in e*bill enrollments May 2008 over May 2007

9% increase in Direct Payment, April/May 200815% signup for eBill from PayItGreen click thru

PayItGreen in market March 2008

Targeted segments of online banking and bill pay customers to PayItGreen. Campaign ended June 30. Estimate SunTrust will be planting 20,000 trees.


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Telling the PayItGreen Story

Print – Nearly 5 million circulation

Broadcast - 150 million

Audio – Nearly 3.5 million

Total States – 24 Total Markets - 60

Total Stations – 30 Total Audiences – 3,394,600


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45%

46%

48%

48%

52%

76%

82%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

No more stacks of paper

Like to pay bills last minute

Viewing/ paying bills helps nation'senvironment

Viewing/ paying bills saves time ofprocessing paper bills

No more lost or late payments

I can view bill online with an emailreminding me to pay

Convenience: All I have to do is click andpay

% of Bill Viewers

Source: CheckFree Consumer Insights, May 2008

Consumers View Bills Online For Multiple Reasons

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Majority of Utilities Have One to Five Percent Paperless e-Bill Penetration

Source: Ascent Group, Billing and Payment Profiles & Best Practices, 2007

3%

9%

22%

47%

Less Than 1%Penetration

Higher Than 10%Penetration

Six to 10% Penetration

One to Five %Penetration

Of Utilities Surveyed

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At least one paper

bill71%

Received no paper

bills29%

For each of the bills you viewed electronically at a biller’s site last month, please indicate if you also received that bill through the mail.

Huge Opportunities for Paper Turn Off

Source: CheckFree Consumer Insights, May 2008

Yes41%

No20%

Depends on bill, 39%

Paper bill recipients: Generally, for the bills you pay at billers’ sites, would you be willing to stop receiving a paper bill if offered the choice?

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The Environmental Paradigm Shift is Driving More Green e-Bill Marketing Initiatives

Very important

25%

Important 26%

Not Important

20%

Indifferent 29%

Consumers: Thinking about the bills you view, receive or pay online, how important is helping the environment?

Sources: 2008 Consumer Lifecycle Survey and TowerGroup 2008 Survey on EBPP

Percent of firms using each marketing strategy to promote e-bills:

79%

50%

43%

36%

29% 29%

Bill Inserts,Messages

GreenInitiatives

Web Sweepstakes Mail / E-Mail CustomerIncentives

Does not equal 100% due to multiple answers

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Consolidated Edison Company of New York (Con Edison) is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., (ED, NYSE) one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $28 billion in assets.

A regulated utility, Con Edison provides electric service to approximately 3.2 million customers and gas service to approximately 1.1 million customers in New York City and Westchester County.

About Con Edison of New York, Inc.

http://www.conedison.com/

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0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

2006/7 2007/8

Source: Con Edison

Enrollment in Electronic BillingMay 2006 – September 2008

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• Press Releases

• Con Edison web site

• My Checkfree transition page

• On-Hold messaging

• Customer News

• Employee notification

• Yankee Stadium Banner

• Customer emails

• Direct Mail Postcards

• Radio Ads

• Bill Envelope Solicitation

• CSR solicitation

• Lottery

• IVM messaging (test)

Initiatives to Encourage Adoption of e*bill

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Con Edison Home Page and e*bill Landing Page

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Yankee Stadium

Con Ed Marketing Examples

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Current and Future Adoption Initiatives

• Green initiatives command attention

• PayItGreen Alliance

• Partner with banks / payment providers to encourage e-bill migration

• Increase email initiatives

• Explore Green Customer profiling

• Explore Internet Security marketing

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“We saw an incredible lift in e-bill activations in 2007 after implementing a marketing campaign promoting the "greenness" of going paperless.

"You can't do just one month of marketing in one place and expect to see results. Our numbers proved that the “green” message is relevant and actionable to our customers.

“Nationally we will have to use ongoing messaging around the green benefits at every opportunity the customer has to choose an electronic statement, bill, or payment over paper.”

Key Takeaways

George Roach, AdministratorElectronic Billing and Payment ProgramsConsolidated Edison

Con Edison Goes Green to Promote Paperless Billing

Stuart Williams, CheckFree, now part of Fiserv

Eric Leiserson, CheckFree, now part of Fiserv

Utility Payments Conference

Documents

Con Edison Goes Green to Promote Paperless Billing Stuart Williams, CheckFree, now part of Fiserv Eric Leiserson, CheckFree, now part of Fiserv Utility