As of June 1, SaskPower customers in Yorkton will no longer be able to pay their power bills at the utility’s office on Broadway Avenue. Cash counters in Regina, Saskatoon and North Battleford, the last remaining in-person payment locations for customers are also closing.
The Crown corporation is citing efficiency for the closures promising it will not impact any jobs in the Yorkton location. Those employees currently tasked with taking payments will move into what Laura McKnight, a Saskpower spokesperson, called “higher value customer service transactions,” specifically processing online and telephone inquiries. A total of nine employees in the four locations will be affected.
McKnight provided statistics to Yorkton This Week that indicate only eight per cent of total payment transactions in the province are currently done at the cash counters. Only two per cent are mailed in. Local numbers were not provided, but would be in line with the provincial stats.
“In comparison, 76 per cent of customers pay their power bills through online banking (60 per cent) and pre-authorized payments (16 per cent),” McKnight said. The remaining 14 per cent are telephone and third party transactions.
This is a stark change over a relatively short period of time, said Diane Avery, SaskPower Vice-President of Customer Services.
“Our customers’ habits have changed significantly over the last 10 years,” she said. “This shift will allow us to keep wait times low, as most of our customers now prefer to handle their transactions electronically or over the phone.”
McKnight suggested the transition should not be too onerous for customers.
“All the services that we do provide face-to-face can be done in other ways, whether it be through the phone or through a customer’s online account,” McKnight said. “They can also go pay their bill at their bank or financial institutions, so there are other options available out there that they can use to pay their bills.”
The closure may also impact a small handful of SaskEnergy customers. The SaskPower cash counter in Yorkton currently also processes in-person payments for the natural gas utility.
In 2014, SaskEnergy preceded SaskPower closing all of its cash counters except two, one in Regina and one in Saskatoon. Those two are now also slated to be closed as of February 1.
