How to Define a Utility Payment System

Utility payments, like electricity, gas, water and cell phone services, are vital to a modern life. However, managing the payments is difficult. The bills must be paid on time in order to avoid late fees and credit card utilization which can negatively affect a customer’s credit score. Moreover, it is also expensive to send paper statements to each and every customer for each billing cycle.

This is where a utility payment system can help. These systems allow customers to pay their utilities directly from their bank accounts, instead of sending checks by mail or making a payment in person. A utility payment system can save both time and money by automatically withdrawing payments from the customer’s bank account on a periodic basis.

When you define a product to process utility payments, you must specify the basic details of the product in the ‘UP Product Definition’ screen. The details include the product code, group, and description. You must also specify the set of accounts or GLs to which accounting entries should be posted for any transaction that is processed against this product. The products are defined to process utility payments for different utility providers.

For example, you must define a product for processing electricity charges payments and a separate one for water charges payments. The corresponding accounting details, rates and charges can then be mapped to each of these products. Whenever you process a payment transaction for a utility payment, the system applies all the specifications made for the respective product to the transaction. utility payment system