Anglian Water teams up with Ecospend to offer ‘Pay by Bank’
UK-based Open Finance technology platform provider Ecospend has partnered with Anglian Water to enable the utility company to offer customers the ‘Pay by Bank’ payment method, as well as a range of other payment functionalities.
Using Ecospend’s ‘Pay by Bank’ technology, Anglian Water will be able to receive instant account-to-account (A2A) payments, thereby reducing the processing costs that are charged by the likes of Visa and Mastercard when it collects payments through card transactions.
James Hickman, COO at Ecospend, said the new partnership will “introduce all the benefits of Open Banking payments” to the utilities sector.
Through the partnership, customers of Anglian Water will receive QR codes on all monthly invoices, enabling them to set up a direct bank transfer.
Another new functionality as a result of the partnership will allow customers to receive invoices via text messages and pay instantly from their phone, while a ‘Pay by Bank’ option on Anglian Water’s website and app will allow customers to pay their water bill straight away, using Ecospend’s e-commerce payments technology.
Hickman said: “This partnership will deliver a smoother and more efficient customer experience.
“Ecospend has now surpassed £1 billion in payment transactions, and is now in a unique position to introduce sectors, such as utilities, to the benefits of Open Banking. We would like to thank Anglian Water for sharing our innovative outlook on the future of payments, and we look forward to working together to modernise the utilities sector.”
Spencer Hough, head of customer services, billing and collections at Anglian Water, added: “With Ecospend’s ‘Pay by bank’ offering, Anglian Water customers will find it simpler than ever to pay their water bills, and will be doing so through a payments system that is safe, fast and easy for all of our customers to use.”