Have you ever experienced a toothache? Has there been a time when you ignored a minor ache until it became unbearable? By the time you make it to the dentist, the cost of recovery, physically and metaphorically, is more prolonged and tedious – not to mention expensive!
Cedar Financial has developed an Early Intervention Collection program that allows you to avoid piling invoices and engage consumers as soon as they default on their first bill. Our experience shows that utility customers who receive early, professional contact are more likely to establish sustainable payment arrangements and maintain future service payments.
Prompt action on aging claims past day 1, up to 30 days, is the ideal time to recover as high as 80% of your outstanding dues on utility bills. We have seen a significant increase in our clients’ bottom line when they diligently identify and work to recover past dues as soon as they default. Acting early saves money that goes a long way towards creating impactful change for your community as the utility provider, and we make it happen for you.
Our representatives comprehend the distinctive dynamics of utility collections, from seasonal payment fluctuations to assistance program eligibility. They communicate with customers as extensions of your team, ensuring consistent messaging and safeguarding the trust you’ve cultivated in your service territory.
We integrate directly with your existing systems and operations, providing a transparent collection process that aligns with your established customer service benchmarks. This approach is particularly valuable during peak periods, such as extreme weather events or seasonal payment surges, where additional support can help prevent accounts from reaching a critical state.
The first-party model also enables more adaptable payment arrangements, as customers are more responsive to early intervention from their trusted utility provider. This leads to enhanced recovery rates and, more importantly, assists customers in maintaining essential services while preserving your revenue stream.
Transparency differentiates between a debt recovery process that fuels growth and one that sours customer relationships forever. In utility debt collection, we ensure robust processes that develop clear communication between you and your customers.
Accurate debt validation is paramount for utility providers due to complex billing cycles, usage disputes, and regulatory requirements. Our comprehensive and transparent client portal allows you to arrange and manage all your accounts receivable and collection processes in one place. With all the information consolidated on one easy-to-access pilot online portal, you can maintain an extensive record of all your claims and create strategies around effective debt recovery.
Extending the same ease to your customers, we also have a consumer portal that gives them a clear idea of what they owe and how they can manage their outstanding dues. They can request documents, verify claims, and validate the debt without delays or complications. Effective utility debt collection becomes possible when accurate measures are taken to provide transparency to all parties involved.
Our technology platform is configured explicitly for utility sector needs. We’ve developed sophisticated systems that integrate seamlessly with significant utility billing platforms. Our real-time payment plan monitoring and regulatory compliance tracking ensure consistent adherence to requirements, all while maintaining multi-channel communication options aligned with utility commission standards.
Our clients in the utility sector must deal with real people with very real financial stresses. We ensure that we can provide them with all the information that can enable them to make informed decisions about their collection process. Our agents leverage credit histories from publicly available records to determine whether a customer is likely to default on their payment or have a lower propensity to pay based on their payment patterns. This allows us to create tailored strategies for customer engagement that ensure a greater chance of recovery with customers that are likely to default.
Unfortunately, some customers will fly under the radar or not engage until they seriously default on their outstanding dues. In the rare case that you have a consumer who fails to meet their payment deadlines, you must resort to more assertive measures to engage them.
As your recovery partner in utility debt collection, we put our utmost efforts into preventing serious defaults. However, when the need arises, we can leverage our extensive network of attorneys, licensed across all 50 states, to manage litigation and judgment against completely unresponsive customers and recover stubborn accounts.
Managing utility debt collections for unregulated utility companies can become complicated, especially for companies that need the internal resources to manage litigation, long-term entanglement, and court proceedings. Our experienced attorneys and trained debt collection agents collaborate on your utility bill debt recovery process by navigating state and federal laws to implement recovery strategies for de-regulated utilities and their consumers.
We strictly adhere to state Utility Commission regulations and assistance program requirements, including comprehensive coverage of winter moratorium rules and medical certification procedures. Our compliance team stays current with changing utility regulations across all jurisdictions, ensuring our recovery efforts align with federal and state requirements, including specific service restoration requirements and rate case stipulations.
Cedar Financial has poured years of debt collection experience into developing a comprehensive and elaborate network of international debt collection partners and resources that allow them to tackle debt recovery for utilities, wherever they may be. Our debt collection talent is well-versed in managing debt collection challenges across multiple utility commission jurisdictions, serving both rural and urban service territories.
Our debt collection talent is well-versed in developing collection strategies for clients overseas and around the world by engaging diverse customer bases and maintaining cultural nuances in the face of challenges that arise in utility debt collection, regardless of geographical location.
