e-BILL claims to be Australia's first bill consolidation service. Announcing today the commencement of its free online payment service for two major companies: New South Wales electricity provider NorthPower and national long-distance provider WorldxChange.
Seven more companies are in various stages of implementation - with Sydney Water next to join e-BILL. Participants include United Energy, RSL Com, Newtel and Optus subsidiary Oxygen. CCH Australia, a legal accounting publishing firm, and WorkCover Corporation of South Australia, a government run workcover insurance agency are also to be involved.
After registering with e-BILL's secure Web site, consumers receive e-mails when new bills arrive and can then log into a site where a list of currently open bills and statements will appear. Customers can then select a payment method and manage their biller accounts.
"It removes the hassle of finding, paying and filing paper bills. It is the end to queues, you don't have to go to the post office to pay your bills, no wait, no fuss," e-BILL General Manager Rob Charlton said.
Payments are made directly from a customer's account to the biller, with no funds flowing through e-BILL.
"It can provide one-to-one conversations with biller and consumer," said Charlton, who was formerly national manager of e-BILL's sister company HPA (Hermes Precisa).
e-BILL and HPA currently have identical shareholder ownership. Charlton believes, "Shareholding in e-BILL will change but the companies will remain close."
e-BILL's closest competitor, according to company officials, is payments service BPay.
www.e-bill.com.au
