Mining the Hidden Revenue in Late Stage Utilities

The utility industry is one of the many industries IC System helps collect on past-due accounts. Karen Jonas, Senior Vice President of Business Development for IC System, spoke with Closing the Books’ Tyler Kern on how to help customers get back on track with their utility payments.

IC System works with a plethora of utility companies of all size, like electric, gas, municipalities, or regulated or dysregulated.

When some customers get behind on payments, staying on top of the accounts receivable (AR) can prove challenging for utilities after the winter months. Jonas’ advice for these companies? As soon as the all-clear is given to disconnect an account, input that information into IC System as early as possible.

“There are some utilities that will wait at least 60 or even 90 days before sending the accounts to a collection agency after they disconnect,” Jonas said. “The longer you wait, the tougher it is to go ahead and collect that money and get the return back to the utility.”

Compounding the challenges for utility companies was the pandemic since many states extended their moratoriums on debt collections. “We had a few of our clients where… they were finally able to disconnect, and what took place was their AR — that was usually pretty normal for them — were four times the amount,” Jonas said. “It really was tough for them.”

IC System works with over 120 different utilities, and they have different account stages they collect on from primary to warehouse. Jonas estimated that around 35% of this business are late-stage accounts, meaning two years or older. And these late-stage solutions can provide success on accounts that utilities may have given up on collecting. IC System has over 85 years of experience in medical and dental debt collection, rent recovery and other business collections. For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.