OneVu announces latest signing

5th September 2005 – The 1.9 million households that are serviced by Northumbrian Water Limited (NWL), which comprises Northumbrian Water and Essex and Suffolk Water, will soon be able to reap the benefits of the company’s decision to sign up with a unique, new service. OneVu is the UK’s first consolidated electronic bill presentment and payment service which lets people see, track and pay all their bills from the familiar, secure environment of their online bank.

NWL’s decision to work with OneVu is driven by its commitment to providing services for its customers that make their lives easier and their interaction with the company more convenient. NWL currently issues in excess of 3.5 million paper bills and believes savings can be rapidly made with the OneVu solution through a reduction in the processing and posting of paper bills and lower communications costs.

It means that by the end of the year domestic customers of NWL will be able to view and pay their water bills, along with any other bills they have chosen to receive, through their normal online banking session as and when their banks sign up to the service

Ian Donald, Customer Services Director at NWL, explains: “We have been looking at consolidated e-billing for a while as we believe it is a convenient and efficient option for our customers. However up until now there has not been a viable solution in the marketplace. As a joint venture between Voca (formerly BACS Ltd) and Checkfree, OneVu offers the first solution that we as a business have full confidence to work with. The design is extremely clever, the integration is simple and the fact that it provides access through the online banks means that it is easy to use. We are proud to be involved right at the start.”

Martin Kearsley, OneVu CEO, said: “OneVu makes the old problems associated with ebilling - such as how to easily and securely link consumers with all the billers of their choice and enable them to pay promptly – a thing of the past by working in partnership with billing organisations and the online banks. I’m delighted to be working with NWL as we work together to bring this great new service to their customers.”

Editor’s note :

OneVu is the UK’s first consolidated electronic bill presentment and payment service which lets people see, track and pay all their bills from the familiar, secure environment of their online bank. Using proven technology, the OneVu solution has been designed to encourage discussion with, and incorporate input from, the banking and billing communities. Invisible to online consumers who will only see their recognised billers’ and bankers’ brands, the OneVu solution encourages participation from the widest range of partners.

OneVu is a joint venture between Voca (formerly BACS Ltd), which processes over 4 billion financial transactions each year, and CheckFree Corporation (Nasdaq: CKFR), a provider of financial electronic commerce services and products to organisations around the world. OneVu is a joint venture between Voca (formerly BACS Ltd), which processes over 4 billion financial transactions each year, and CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ: CKFR), a global leader in financial electronic commerce services.

For further information please contact:

Lizzie Woolley, The Weston Partnership,
Tel: 020 8671 9031
07881 923 530
Lizzie@westonpartnership.co.uk