Atlanta-based electric company Southern Company Monday announced it
will offer its customers an online payment solution, to be supported by
e-commerce firm CheckFree Corp.
Customers will use CheckFree’s E-Bill program to access their utility bill
and receive a full-color electronic replication over the Internet, complete
with graphics, logos and full billing details, the companies said. No
financial terms were disclosed.
After initial testing with Southern employees, the service will be rolled
out to its nearly 11 million customers in most of Georgia and Alabama,
southeastern Mississippi and the Florida panhandle.
“Electronic bill presentment and payment is one of the value-added services
that Southern Company believes will keep us in the lead by continuing to
provide useful, time-saving tools for our customers,” said Will Knight,
Southern Company’s manager of electronic marketing.
CheckFree’s payment solution is already being used by other companies,
including AT&T and Washington Water Power.