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Consumer Billing - Still a Paper Exercise

January 2008
Although online billing is gaining a tentative foothold in the business arena, it isn't expected to be in general use for consumer transactions for some years to come.

This means that paper bills are a thing of the future, not the past.

In theory, it should be possible for the majority of consumer billing to be electronic. Half of all homes in the UK – about 13 million – now have broadband Internet connections.

People are certainly not shy of the Internet when it comes to shopping. Consumers spent a record £53 billion online in 2007, up 75 per cent on the previous year.

But when it comes to payments, the picture is more patchy. Just one experience of inaccurate billing – and the money whipped out of their bank account before they can complain – puts most consumers off direct debit for life.

Electronic bill delivery has still more hurdles. How is it delivered? If bills are sent to home email addresses, they are likely to be ignored, or at least not read for days. Emails containing links for payment are, understandably, treated with deep suspicion, whereas electronic invoices on banks' websites are a great idea – if you can convince consumers that they need to look at them!

Whilst electronic billing between businesses forges ahead, paper billing is likely to be in place for the consumer for the foreseeable future.