Designing a human-centered payment system (vs a utility-centered one) yields multiple benefits, including higher customer satisfaction, fewer defaults, lower stress and significantly lower usage and bills.
A well designed customer experience has many benefits: Lower usage and bills, fewer complaints, fewer defaults, less stress on customers. Salt River Projects M-Power program has been running since 1980 in the Phoenix area. The pay as you go program enjoys a 95% customer satisfaction rating and leads to a conservation effect of 12%. By making the payment system user friendly, customers can pay their bills when it's convenient for them not on a schedule determined by the utility. Customers on M-Power pay multiple times a month, sometimes as many as 7. Stronger engagement with their energy usage leads to greater awareness and drives behavior change to cut back on waste. Originally aimed at low income customers, it now serves many more.

How can we overcome the organizational inertia to make changes like this in how energy is paid for?
More details below:
The program site.
A detailed EPRI report.
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