Payzone has come up with a new digital top-up payments solution that will work with prepayment meters for gas and electricity in Irish homes. The service is aimed at households that are experiencing financial strain due to the recession.
Installations of the new prepayment meters (PPMs) to electricity customers began earlier this month as part of a three-year rollout plan aimed at more than 100,000 households that are deemed to be experiencing genuine financial hardship and who might be unable to pay large utility bills right now. The top-up system is a way of ensuring people’s energy supply doesn’t get cut off.
Digital top-ups
Payzone’s nifty new ‘op-up solution will work by facilitating the pre-payment of energy supply services from each of the utility companies using an electronic digital key pad system.
Think of when you go to a service station or a shop to pay for an M50 toll journey or to top up your mobile phone – then apply this to electricity and gas top-ups.
People that have PPMs in their homes can purchase energy credits by visiting any of the Payzone retail agents among its network throughout the country.
Here’s how the formula works. Say you purchase €10 of energy credits in your local Spar shop. You’ll then be given a digital pin number that can then be input via the keypad on the PPM system to ensure you get electricity/gas supply for the appropriate amount of energy credits you have purchased.
Payzone Ireland’s managing director Jim Deignan
Payzone Ireland’s managing director Jim Deignan said this morning that the company was pleased to be supporting the PPM rollout by introducing this payment solution technology for the first time in Ireland.
“Payzone works with all the leading electricity, gas and other utility service providers to develop networks and supporting IT infrastructures for pre-payment, bill payment and other payment types,” he said.
