PVREA offers new prepay service for electric members

Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association has started offering a new payment option to its members – Pay As You Go prepaid metering.

The new account option allows PVREA members prepay on their electric account, actively monitor energy use in almost real-time and bypass any required deposit for new service. The Pay As You Go account option also eliminates any disconnecting and reconnecting fees. When an account runs low on funds, the member is notified by phone, text or email. If no payment is made, the service is disconnected remotely from PVREA’s office, and reconnected once payment has been made.

“It’s similar to the concept of filling up your gas tank. You pay for your gas before you use it. Pay As You Go is the same concept – members log into their account or call into the office to fill up their electricity tank with a payment,” CEO Jeff Wadsworth explained.

Through the co-op’s free SmartHub web, tablet and smartphone app that was launched in 2013, members can actively monitor electricity usage and potentially make changes to save on energy. Adding the payment option also gives members the opportunity to find a payment choice to fit every lifestyle. With the Pay As You Go option, deposits and disconnect fees do not exist. Members simply pay a minimum $25 payment into their accounts, which can be monitored in SmartHub.

Electric cooperatives across the country have started offering a prepaid metering option to members with much success with electric cooperative members. Electric cooperatives are finding that members appreciate the deposit fee being waived, find themselves using less electricity and find it easier to make payments for their electric service.