HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 12179City of Palo Alto (ID # 12179)
Utilities Advisory Commission Staff Report
Report Type: New Business Meeting Date: 6/2/2021
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Summary Title: MyCPAU Metric
Title: Discussion and Update on the Utilities MyCPAU Customer Portal
From: City Manager
Lead Department: Utilities
RECOMMENDATION
This report is presented for the Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) discussion and no action i s
required.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The new self-service customer portal, MyCPAU, fully launched in April 2020 and is available to
all residential and commercial Utilities customers. MyCPAU is a convenient and secure way for
customers to view and pay their utility bill, display monthly consumption and charges, browse
energy efficiency tips, and much more. The new portal is a significant step in improving
customer experience while also fulfilling many of staff’s objectives that includes providing a
mobile optimized portal. Overall, MyCPAU has been well received with a 73% adoption rate.
The new customer portal includes features that make navigating the site and completing
transactions online much more intuitive. This report describes the new features of the portal,
shares customer feedback, presents the business metrics comparing the legacy customer
portal, MUA (My Utilities Account), to MyCPAU, and, lastly, previews the short and long -term
enhancement roadmap for the platform.
BACKGROUND
MUA was the City’s first on-line payment offering, introduced in 2009 until it was
decommissioned in 2020. MUA was well received by residents and offered utilities customers
their first opportunity to pay their invoice online with a credit card or bank account. However ,
as customer expectations and City staff requirements grew over time, a new vendor and
software was required in order to meet objectives. The project team’s objectives for the next
generation online portal, MyCPAU, were to increase customer adoption and engagement,
increase customer productivity and satisfaction, and automate internal processes while
improving the efficiency of business workflow. In addition, staff also sought improvements in
Staff: Kevin Enderby
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security to offer customers the ability to store a credit card or enroll in recurring credit card
payments.
Strategic goals for the portal included an increase in registered users by 10% for the first year as
well as an increase of 5% in the daily utilization of the portal.
DISCUSSION
MyCPAU’s new features, customer feedback, business metrics and short and long-term
roadmap are discussed below.
I. NEW FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS
To develop the business requirements for the next generation customer portal, Utilities
participated in several industry specific website assessments, obtained input from customers
via a special survey, collaborated with other municipalities and utilities, and received feedback
from critical front-office staff. Key features that customers have requested in the past are now
available including setting up recurring credit card payments and updating mailing addresses.
Customer are now able to track their usage and monthly utility expenditures through the
interactive usage and graph modules. In addition, customers can download their energy and
consumption data into a worksheet that they can access to do further analysis.
Table 1 below summarize the features and improvements introduced with the implementation
of MyCPAU.
Although this is not an exhaustive list, MyCPAU offers these popular features and
improvements:
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• Fits any size to any device or screen and includes a modern look and feel
The portal is designed to offer convenience and control to access utility information on any
device (phone, tablet, computer) all while keeping things simple and user-friendly. Although a
separate mobile app is not currently offered, accessing MyCPAU using a mobile phone or tablet
is much easier than previously with MUA.
• Enhanced Usage/Cost Graphs and Residential Tiered Usage
The portal provides a dynamic view of graphs and charts that illustrate consumption and costs.
Customers can hover (cursor) over a specific month on the graph to view the billing period, rate
plan, and specific tiered consumption amount. This information is downloadable to a
spreadsheet for up to thirty-six months. Residential tiered usage information (e.g. E-1, electric
residential rate) is now available to show residents their monthly consumption. Displays of net
generation and consumption data for solar electric Net Energy Metering (NEM) customers are
also available.
• Credit Card Payment Enhancements
Based on customer requests, MyCPAU offers several new credit card payment features
including:
o Ability to enroll in recurring or automatic payment using a credit card
• Flexibility to select the number of days to automatically pay in advance of the
due date
o Option to store one or multiple credit cards for future use
o The ability to pay the utility bill using an American Express or Discover card
o An option to “Pay without login”
• Update Profile Information and Guest User Access
MyCPAU offers the ability to maintain account information in real-time with direct updates to
the Utilities Billing System, including:
o Add and update primary and secondary email addresses
o Add and update primary and alternate phone numbers
o Add and update a billing address
o “Paperless Bill” enrollment
o Add and update home/business details
o Select the email notification preference
o Guest User Access
▪ A CPAU customer may invite a property management firm or an individual (e.g.
spouse or family member) to oversee the daily operations of their utilities account.
• Enhanced Security Features and Website Analytics
MyCPAU improved security features include two-factor authentication via email at registration,
enhanced username and password requirements, as well as, additional security measures
provided by the vendor and payment processor for credit card payments. In addition, the
portal provides City staff with reporting and analytics related dashboards of customer
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interactions including the count of total logins, new registrations, paperless billing enrollments,
“Contacts Us” requests, email notifications, and service requests (i.e. move-outs or stop
service). Staff is also able to view detailed reports corresponding to the type of devi ces and
browsers used, number of clicks by module and clicks by banner.
II. MODULES
The new portal is divided by menu options or modules. Table 2 below summarize the modules
available to all customers after log-in.
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Table 2
Module Name Description
Home The Home (or Dashboard) page provides a quick glance of the customer’s
utilities account using separate tiles for each module. These tiles are
configurable and can be easily adjusted by the customer in any sequence.
My Account Allows customers to view and update customer profile, home and payment
information, manage multiple accounts, and set notification preferences.
Billing Displays current and historical bills, pay bills online, and contact CPAU for
billing inquiries.
Usage Displays graphs and charges illustrating monthly consumption, costs, and
rate schedule.
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III. CUSTOMER FEEDBACK - STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES
For the past year, Utilities Customer Service staff have collected and compiled customer
feedback, is summarized below by module:
A. STRENGTHS
• Home
o Customers now have a dashboard with a quick view of their balance, usage graphs,
and outstanding notifications.
▪ MUA defaulted to the payment screen and basic menu and did not provide
an overview of the account.
o Customers with multiple services addresses (or accounts) can be toggled from a
drop-down menu at the top.
▪ In MUA, all accounts were displayed together, and the customer had to
know each by the account number, as the service address was not displayed.
• My Account
o Customers can update their mailing address
o Ability to select an address to be their default billing address
o Guest User Access
▪ Property Management level
▪ Guest Level Limited accessibility
• Billing
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o Automatic credit card payments
o Installment plans are now visible and payable
o Budget Billing is displayed on the site is applicable
o Notifications - Customer is able to enroll for email confirmation of their payment
o Payment History (up to 36 months)
o Shows amount paid and indicates type of payment (i.e. checking, credit card)
o History can be exported to a spreadsheet
• Usage
o Graphs includes both consumption and costs for all three commodities – electricity,
gas, and water. MUA had only basic charts of consumption with no dollar amounts.
o Graphs are interactive – customers can hover over bars to see specific dates of bill
periods as well as tiered usage information.
o Graphs display 12 months of data, providing customers with a quick view of cost or
consumption over time.
o Customers can see monthly average and highest consumption and cost val ues.
o Data for CPAU’s two types of solar customers (NEM 1 and NEM 2) are displayed
clearly: NEM 1 solar customers can view net generation as well as net consumption
data, and NEM 2 solar customers can view electricity import and export data.
o 36 months of cost and consumption data can be exported to a spreadsheet.
o Customers can navigate to rate information.
• Outages
o Proves link to outage maps, social media links and outage contact information
• Notifications
o Bill due, bill reminders, past due reminders, which were not available in MUA
o Customers can opt-in or opt-out of receiving notifications
• Efficiency
o Customer can now view savings tips and rebates in one location.
• CSR Admin Portal (Customer Service Representative Administrative Portal)
o City staff can now reply to customer inquiries from the admin portal without having
to log into the Utilities Billing System to respond. All information is in one spot.
o Reporting and Analytics are now available.
B. CHALLENGES
The following is a list of constructive and helpful feedback from customers and staff:
o Billing - Does not state in detail why a credit card payment is not accepted, can
sometimes be difficult for a CSR to investigate.
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o Billing - Customers can get confused if they are enrolled in auto pay as soon as they
enroll and must refresh to view if they are actually enrolled.
o Mobile and Tablet - Users have stated it is not as friendly as using the desktop
version.
o Billing - Customers can no longer make a single payment for multiple accounts;
instead they must make them individually.
Staff plans to send out a survey in FY 2022 to obtain additional feedback from customers. In
addition, staff will review customer challenges and will work with the vendor to determine
improvements that can be made to incorporate feedback.
IV. METRICS
Program objectives and goals for MyCPAU are monitored and evaluated using business metrics
and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Table 3 below summarize the metrics tracked
comparing MUA (January/February 2020) to MyCPAU (January/February 2021):
Table 3
Customer Portal – Metrics MUA (legacy) MyCPAU Diff.
1. Registered Users
Utilities Accounts Registered 19,000 22,218 3,218
-Residential n/a 86% -
-Commercial and other classes n/a 14% -
- % of Total Utilities Accounts 62% 73% -
2. Payments (per month)
One-Time – ACH 1,266 1,214 -52
One-Time - Credit Card 5,197 3,648 -1,549
Recurring - ACH 7,354 6,673 -681
Recurring - Credit Card n/a 2,973 2,973
Total Online Payments 13,817 14,508 691
3. Notifications - emails (per month)
Monthly Invoice -"Your Bill is Ready to View" 6,749 22,346 15,597
Payment Reminders and Past Due n/a 7,002 7,002
Payments Received/Declined n/a 8,473 8,473
4. Enrollments (per month)
Paperless Billing n/a 171 171
Total Accounts on Paperless Billing (email only) 4,489 6,251 39%
5. Customer Service Correspondence (emails per month)
Customer Inquiries Received/Sent n/a 350
6. Services (per month)
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Move-Outs / Turn-off Service 74 102 28
7. Traffic (per day)
Number of Unique Customer Logins n/a 510 -
8. Customer Engagement
a. Clicks by Module (per month)
Billing n/a 6,065 -
MyAccount n/a 1,483 -
Usage n/a 706 -
Connect-Me n/a 203 -
Service n/a 191 -
Notifications n/a 97 -
Efficiency n/a 71 -
Total Customer Clicks n/a 8,816 -
b. Clicks by Banner (per month)
Usage ("Obtain Your Rate Details") n/a 175 -
Dashboard ("Paperless Bill") n/a 65 -
My Account ("Paperless Bill") n/a 35 -
Billing ("Payment Methods") n/a 24 -
Total Customer Clicks n/a 299 -
City staff interpret these metrics below:
1) Registered Users
MyCPAU has been well received with 73% of all accounts currently enrolled. This is an
increase in adoption of 17% year-over-year when comparing MyCPAU (22,218) to MUA
(19,000). This has exceeded staff’s strategic goal to increase customer adoption (or
portal registrations) by 10% per year. In addition, a majority of users are residential
customers at 86% of the registered accounts, versus commercial customers at 14%.
2) Payments
There was a slight increase in customers making their payment via the customer portal
with the total number of monthly online payments increasing by 691 payments , or 5%.
In addition, with the introduction of the recurring credit card option (or automatic
payments), a shift in customer preference occurred from making one-time credit card
and recurring ACH payments in MUA, to recurring credit card payments in MyCPAU. As
a result, CPAU credit card payment fees (or City expenses) have increased by 35%. Staff
will continue to monitor and evaluate options to reduce the fees incurred, for example,
by lowering the maximum credit card payment amount per month.
3) Notifications - emails alerts
The MyCPAU portal emails approximately 22,000 bills, payment received, and reminder
emails per month including “Your bill is ready to view,” “Your bill is due in X days,” and
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“Your payment has posted.” The enhanced notifications options have improved the
look and feel of the notices, introduced new notification types, and allow staff to edit
content on demand. Example, special COVID-19 messages were added to notifications
last year.
4) Enrollments
From January 2020 to January 2021, there was an increase of 1,762 accounts or a 39%
increase in Paperless Billing enrollments. This has greatly exceeded staff’s strategic goal
of 10% per year. Staff will continue to promote paperless billing since it will reduce
printing and mailing costs.
5) Customer Service Correspondence
MyCPAU provides a customer notification inbox to easily submit and track
correspondence with City staff for online assistance with billing, usage, and customer
inquiries (i.e. high bill). This new feature has been popular with customers and provides
a convenient method at any hour to communicate with staff. Utilities Customer Service
staff receive and process approximately 350 inquires a month.
6) Services
Customers increased their adoption of the move-out (stop service) option in MyCPAU by
38% per month or 28 additional move-outs per month. This exceeds staff’s strategic
goal of increasing the use of the move-out feature by 5% per year. In addition, the
move-outs submitted via the portal automatically initiates the final meter read wor k
order request in the billing system as well as adds the new forwarding address. This
saves staff the manual efforts to enter this information into the system.
7) Traffic
As discussed earlier in this update report, MyCPAU introduced new website analytics
that allows staff to track the daily usage of the portal. According to these analytics,
there are an average of 510 unique users that visit the site on average per day. Now
that this metric is available, Staff will be able to benchmark and gauge daily usage of the
site and determine methods to improve online adoption.
8) Customer Engagement
a. Number of “Clicks by Module” – The most popular modules in the portal
are the Billing, My Account, and Usage modules. This appears to be in line with
staff assumptions as customers visit the site to conduct such business as
view/pay bills, view/change their phone number, email, billing address, or enroll
in paperless billing and view their consumption.
b. Number of “Clicks by Banner”- The most popular banners are on the
Usage, Home (Dashboard), and My Account modules relating to finding usage
details and enrolling in paperless billing.
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V. NEXT STEPS: SUMMARY OF THE ROAD MAP AHEAD – SHORT AND LONG TERM
The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) is dedicated to improving the f unctionality of the MyCPAU
online portal as part of its goal to make utility information readily available to customers so that
they can make informed decisions on their own utility costs, energy savings and climate
reduction efforts.
CPAU is committed to engaging with its residents, businesses, and technology experts to
enhance the online portal to deliver more value for all customers. Numerous enhancements are
being developed into both short- and long-term schedules in order to achieve maximum
benefits.
A number of these enhancements are underway and include the following:
A. SHORT-TERM (1 year to 18 months)
• WaterSmart - Provides customers with additional water analytics and comparison
reports.
• Clean Power Research - Provides customers interested in learning more about solar and
electric vehicles with solar and EV calculator tools.
• Based on feedback, staff plans to address the challenges customers are currently
experiencing since the portal’s launch (e.g. add communication or make more intuitive
where needed)
• Add a notification banner across the top of the log -in and post-login pages. This is to be
used to alert customers of important information such as emergency situations (e.g.
wildfires or Covid-19), outage information, fraud alerts, portal instructions, or one-time
messages to reduce customer calls into the call center (e.g. call center/phones are down
or invoices will be delayed one day)
• Evaluate options to reduce credit card fees, for example, by instituting a maximum
monthly credit card amount.
B. LONG-TERM (2 to 3 years)
• An option for text alerts for high bill notification (tentative)
• Coordination with the Outage Management System (OMS) to improve delivery of email
notifications (tentative)
• Integration with the future AMI (Advanced Metering Infr astructure) system to provide
customers with hourly interval usage data and water leak alerts
• Upgrade to the latest version of the vendor’s portal software and explore the need for a
separate mobile application
• Electronic bill presentment in financial inst itutions
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Resource Impact
For short-term enhancements, staff estimates the cost to implement will range between
$85,000 and $100,000. Staff does not currently have an estimate for long-term enhancements
and will have to develop statement of works and contact multiple vendors for future
integration and service offerings. Please note should staff elect to institute a maximum
monthly credit card amount in MyCPAU, a net savings of $250,000 annually is estimated from
$600,000 per year to $350,000 in annual credit card fees.
Stakeholder Engagement
The online MyCPAU customer account management system was presented to the UAC on
March 6, 2019 (https://cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/69599). CPAU received
input from Utility industry consultants, E Source; survey results from 1,200 CPAU customers;
and system requirements from multiple divisions in Utilities including Customer Support, Billing
and Utilities Program Services.
Environmental Review
The UAC’s review of this update is not a Project requiring California Environmental Quality Act
review, as an administrative governmental activity which will not cause a direct or indirect
physical change in the environment, under 14 CCR Section 15378(b)(5).
Attachments:
• Attachment A - Presentation
MyCPAU Customer Portal
June 2, 2021
1
Attachment A
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•MyCPAU Objectives
•New Features and Improvements
•Customer Dashboard and Modules
•Key Performance Metrics
•Roadmap
Outline
2
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•Increase customer engagement
–New functionality and features, new modern screens
•Increase customer satisfaction, productivity, and convenience
–Mobile experience, single sign-on, fewer clicks…
•Reduce incoming phone calls by offering new services and information
online
•Improved security features
•Encourage energy efficiency and conservation by adding new online tools
MyCPAU Objectives
3
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Customer Portal -Improvements
4
✓Fits and sizes to any device
✓Modern Look and Feel
✓ Alert Email Notifications
✓website Analytics
✓Enhanced security features
✓scalable (add future
functionality)
✓Residential Tiered Usage Data
✓Enhanced Usage and Cost Charts
✓Recurring credit card option
✓usage export to Excel (36 months)
✓ Guest User Access
✓Energy Efficiency Tips
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✓improved e-billing
✓ AMEX and Discover
✓update Profile real-time
(e.g. email, phone, address)
✓store a credit card
✓social Media Links
✓pay without login
(Desktop view)
New nline Customer Portal -ImprovementsCustomer Dashboard and Modules
5
•
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REGISTERED
ACCOUNTS:
22,218 OR 73%
ONLINE PAYMENTS:
14,508 OR 51%
BILL NOTIFICATIONS:
22,346 MONTHLY
PAPERLESS BILLING:
6,251 MONTHLY
(39% INCREASE)
SELF MOVE-OUTS:
102 MONTHLY OR 32%
Key Performance Metrics
7
Road Map
•Water analytics and comparison report
•Solar and EV calculator
•Maximum monthly credit card payment
Short-Term (12 –18 months)
•AMI hourly interval data and water leak notifications
•Notifications via text
•Outage notifications
•Electronic bill presentment (i.e. Bill Pay/ebill) in financial
institutions
Long-Term (24 –36 months)
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•Questions
•Suggestions
•Thoughts and Ideas
Discussion
8
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