Heco to allow
customers to pay
bills on Internet

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Later this year Hawaiian Electric Co.'s 270,000-plus customers will be able to see and pay their bills over the Internet, if they choose to do it that way. The company said it will offer "E-Bill" service in the fall.

Customers will be able to find their bills by accessing a Web site using the CheckFree service, a national electronic commerce operation.

"E-Bill is a big step forward in the transition from paper bills to electronic bill management," said T. Michael May, Heco president and chief executive officer.

May said customers who sign up for the service will see the electricity bills in full color, with graphics, logos and total billing details. That is not common in most online services that offer bill-paying, he said.

Customers who don't sign up for the new service will continue to receive their bills in the mail, the company said.

Hawaiian Electric Co. is the major subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. and CheckFree is the operating arm of CheckFree Holdings Corp.

Rick von Gnechten, a customer service spokesman for Hawaiian Electric, said customers will receive information in their bills some time in the fall, explaining how to sign up for the electronic service. There will be no charge from Heco's side, he said. However the service will be offered through various Web sites connected to CheckFree and some of them may have charges while others will be free, he said.

There are eight sites getting ready to handle Heco's bills so far and customers will get a list of sites later, von Gnechten said.

Customers won't get just the bills electronically. The sites also will have links to other Heco information and will include electronic versions of all the materials customers currently get in their bill envelopes, such as consumer tips and recipes, he said.