Georgia Power Co. customers may pay their electricity bills at self-service kiosks deployed in seven Best Buy Co. stores throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area.
“The kiosks provide another payments option,” Lynn Wallace, a Georgia Power spokesperson, tells PaymentsSource, noting the utility also accepts payments by mail, online, through its e-bill Web site and its local offices. The Best Buy locations, however, are open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and they are open weekends. In contrast, Georgia Power offices are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and are closed weekends, Wallace says.
Georgia Power also wants to appeal to Hispanic customers who prefer paying their bills in cash, Wallace says. “Three of the Best Buys are located in neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations,” she says.
The self-service payment kiosks, operated by Tio Networks Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia, accept only banknotes.
John Lewis, who handles Tio’s business development, says the company is negotiating to have the kiosks accept credit cards and ACH debit. “We are holding discussions,” says Lewis, adding Tio does not have a timetable. Tio deployed the kiosks in Best Buy customer service areas or near cash registers, Lewis says.
“Getting into Best Buy is important,” Lewis adds. Best Buy “is a tier one chain, and everyone know where to find one of its stores,” he says.
The kiosks “don’t dispense change, and if a customer pays more than the amount due, Georgia Power applies the additional payment to his next month’s bill,” Wallace says. Tio deployed one kiosk in each store.
Best Buy, the nation’s largest electronics retailer based on annual sales, Georgia Power and Tio Networks announced their agreement April 15. Best Buy is based in Richfield, Minn.
Once the customer pays his bill, Georgia Power immediately posts the payment to his account, Wallace says. Tio charges a $2 fee for each kiosk payment. Tio and Best Buy share revenues, Lewis says. A Best Buy spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
Georgia Power, which serves 2.3 million customers in 155 of the state’s 159 counties, tested the kiosk payments in November and December before rolling out the service in the Best Buy stores.
“It’s been pretty good,” Wallace says. “From Dec. 22 through Feb. 28, customers have made 551 bill payments through the kiosks,” she says.
