A utility payment system is a payment processing service that allows customers to pay their utilities using a bank account, card or digital wallet. This feature makes it easier to pay bills and keep tabs on spending. It also helps ensure that bills get paid on time, making it a great tool for consumers who struggle with budgeting and financial planning.

A utility payment solution typically supports traditional bill payments such as credit and debit cards, recurring payments via ACH at minimum and emerging methods such as iBAN and BIC. Additionally, it is important that a solution supports the ability to make equal payment plans available for residential users. This is especially helpful for people who may experience seasonal fluctuations in their utilities costs, such as high winter heating and cooling bills.

To support a utility payment system, you must first define products that allow for the processing of payments made to your bank for a specific service to a specific utility provider institution. You can do this on the ‘Product Definition for Utility Payments’ screen (updated in version 9.0).

Next, you must maintain bill payment instructions for each product, which will create a utility payment transaction. You do this on the ‘Utility Bill Instruction Capture’ screen (updated in version 9.0). You must specify the bank account that should be debited to make the payment and select a payment date. The system then posts the transaction for the specified products to the back-end system. If you want advices to be generated for these transactions, you must check the ‘Generate Advice’ box in the ‘ARC Maintenance’ screen. utility payment system