PSEG LI to offer text, email alerts for billing info

Ratepayers anxious to get their electric bill the moment it's ready will now be able to get text and email alerts for that and a range of monthly billing information.

A new section of PSEG Long Island's online MyAccount page lets customers sign up for the alerts. PSEG will launch the program Monday as part of a larger effort to give customers more options and flexibility, officials said.

The new features will allow customers to get automatic alerts on their phones or through their email accounts for four different actions: when their new monthly bill is ready to be viewed, when a payment is within five days of being due, when a payment has been posted, and when their monthly balanced-billing amount changes.

The alerts can be switched on and off by signing on to a new area of the company's MyAccount page at psegliny.com.

Alerts won't be sent between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Customers also can report an outage using the system by texting the word "out" from their phone.

The alerts can be sent to one or multiple email addresses or phones.

Users can sign up for alerts from a desktop or mobile phone. They also can text REG to PSEG Long Island at 773454. Another option is to sign up via telephone at 800-490-0025 or one of the company's walk-in service centers. The alerts are available in English or Spanish. Alerts can be canceled by texting STOP to PSEG. They can also be temporarily stopped by using a do-not-disturb feature.

Bill alerts are the latest in a PSEG plan to increase customer access to accounts. Just under half of PSEG's 1.1 million Long Island customers, or 435,000 users, have registered for the utility's online MyAccount service, allowing them to view usage and billing information. About 115,000 receive no paper bill at all, opting instead for an online copy.

Some 12,000 customers a month use a service that allows customers to pay bills using their credit cards (through a Western Union service). Another 55,000 pay their bills via an automated phone service each month.

Jorge Jimenez, director of customer experience and utility marketing at PSEG, said the features are more attuned to increasing customer satisfaction than cutting costs.

"We have data that shows as people sign up for more of these features, they tend to be more satisfied," he said. "We make it as easy as possible to sign up and participate."

More services are planned for 2016. Paying a bill via text message is coming early in the year, along with an upgrade of the MyAccount page with more data and charts on customer usage, among other features.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.