Chartwell’s 2020 Payment Industry Benchmarks Available in the Insight Center

By Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst –  

Respondents to Chartwell’s 2020 Payment Industry Survey ranked expanding electronic payment options as the most influential opportunity in the utility industry in the next two to five years. Trends in payment methods and channels back up our respondents’ assessment. 

Chartwell research shows that more utilities are adopting mobile app and text message as payment channels, making these the fastest growing channels in the industry over the past five years. According to the survey, 48% of utilities offer pay via mobile app and 21% offer pay by text message. Even more utilities are considering offering payments via mobile app and text message in the next two years. 

Survey respondents ranked mobile and digital wallet as the second-most influential opportunity. Right now, few utilities accept payments made via mobile and digital wallet. However, 38% of utilities are considering offering this payment method within the next two years. For comparison, the percent of utilities accepting check, card and ACH payments have remained relatively steady since 2016, while fewer utilities are offering payments via cash.  

For more insights into mobile payments, download Chartwell’s 2020 Payment Industry Benchmarks report. The report contains industry trends in payment channels and methods, information on utilities implementing real-time payment posting and processing, the average cost per payment for different payment methods and more.