PRESS RELEASE:Billserv.com In Conn. Distribution Pacts
22 Feb 09:46
Billserv, Inc. Signs Agreement With Two Connecticut Gas Distribution Companies
To Develop Electronic Billing Options
SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Billserv, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLLS), the
leading electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) service provider, today
announced a multi-year agreement to provide Web-based billing services to The
Southern Connecticut Gas Company (Southern) and Connecticut Natural Gas
Corporation (CNG). Southern and CNG provide natural gas service to more than
300,000 customers, residing primarily in the shoreline and central Connecticut
areas. Both companies are subsidiaries of Energy East Corporation (NYSE: EAS).
The EBPP system is scheduled to be available within the next several months.
The system will provide customers of the two Connecticut companies the option
of accessing and viewing their bills online as well as making payments via the
Internet. The service will be accessible through the companies' Web-sites or
through any of the approximately 275 popular financial services Web-sites
available through CheckFree, a billing and payment consolidator. Southern's and
CNG's Web addresses are www.soconngas.com and www.cngcorp.com.
"Southern and CNG are demonstrating their desire to offer convenience,
enhanced communication, and improved customer service through the initiation of
Internet billing services to their customers," said Michael Long, chairman and
CEO of Billserv, Inc. "We value our relationship with the Energy East family of
companies and look forward to meeting the needs of their customers as we
implement our state of the art billing solution," continued Long.
"Southern and CNG believe that the availability of on-line billing services
will provide customers with a convenient, flexible way to manage the natural
gas bill payment process," said William Reis, the utilities' vice president of
business development. "This option is yet another step we are taking to enhance
our commitment to customer service excellence."
Billserv now has 39 biller relationships contracted, representing 52 billers.
Of the 52 billers, 33 are in a production environment stage with the remaining
19 in various stages of implementation. Billserv's customer base totals
approximately 3 billion paper bills annually, which equates to 15% of all paper
bills produced in the U.S. each year.
Company Information
Energy East, based in Albany, NY, is a super-regional energy services and
delivery company in the Northeast. A leader in promoting competition, Energy
East serves approximately two million customers (1.4 million electric and
600,000 natural gas) in upstate New York and New England over a
32,000-square-mile service area.
Southern Connecticut Gas, based in Bridgeport, CT, is an Energy East
subsidiary. The company provides natural gas energy to more than 162,000
customers in 22 communities in Fairfield, New Haven and Middlesex counties,
primarily along Long Island Sound.
Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation, based in Hartford, CT, is an Energy East
subsidiary. The company distributes natural gas energy to approximately 146,000
customers in central Connecticut, principally in the Hartford-New Britain area
and Greenwich.
Billserv, Inc. is the leading electronic bill presentment and payment
Outsourced Solution Provider that provides billers with a cost-effective,
integrated solution for presenting bills to consumers for payment on the
Internet. Billserv serves an intermediary role between billers and bill
aggregators by consolidating customer billing information from multiple
billers, and then securely delivering it to aggregators and to the client's own
payment site, hosted by Billserv. The company has relationships with all major
EBPP consolidators, including CheckFree, Spectrum, MasterCard RPPS, Paytrust,
CyberBills and BillingZone. For additional information, visit
billserv.com or call (210) 402-5000.
With the exception of historical information contained in this release, this
release includes forward-looking statements made under the "Safe Harbor"
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.
Investor Relations Contact:
Jack Roney
(210) 402-5160
jack.roney@billserv.com SOURCE Billserv, Inc.
/CONTACT: investor relations, Jack Roney of Billserv, Inc., 210-402-5160, or
jack.roney@billserv.com/
/Web site: cngcorp.com
soconngas.com
billserv.com /
(BLLS EAS) CO: Billserv, Inc.; Southern Connecticut Gas Company; Connecticut
Natural Gas
Corporation; Energy East Corporation ST: Texas, Connecticut, New York IN: MLM
OIL ECM SU:
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 02-22-01
09:46 AM
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