Pay your bills directly from home, avoiding queues at the post office or tobacconist's? It's easy and always worthwhile. Here is a simple guide made with Selectra, a company that helps consumers compare electricity, gas and internet tariffs and manage contractual practices. VIDEO
The advantages of the Web bill
The solution simplest, but also the cheapest and respectful of the environment, is to immediately choose an offer with a web bill. All suppliers on the free energy market offer their customers tariffs that include this type of billing and in telecommunications this has been the usual practice for years now. In addition to being convenient, the web bill is usually also cheaper because it does not include any additional costs related to printing and sending the bill. It helps consumers save time (related to postal delivery and queues to make payment) and is a more environmentally friendly way, because paper waste is avoided. Also with the web bill there is no risk of receiving it late, already expired, or not to receive it at all (perhaps because it erroneously ended up in the sea of advertising correspondence that we throw away directly), as unfortunately can happen with paper mail sent.
The activation of the web bill and the management of one's bills online make it easier to control consumption, the status of payments and also their due dates. There's also no need to store paid bills at home, which take up space and are still difficult to sort and retrieve if needed.
How to switch to the web bill
Normally the web bill activation procedure (for practically all suppliers who offer this option) is very easy. In most cases it can be done online independently. You just have to choose the digital bill as the billing method in the application or in your own customer area on the supplier's website. Usually immediately after doing this the user receives a confirmation e-mail with a link that allows you to confirm the e-mail address. The activation of the web bill is immediate and from that moment on all the bills will be sent to us via e-mail.
Direct debit: why it's convenient
Direct debit, which applies to both traditional paper bills and even more so to those via the web, is a method of automatic payment which allows you to debit directly from your current account with the bank RID. To activate this simple and fast payment method, all you need is a current account and make a request to your supplier. Unlike the postal payment slip, direct debit offers you the certainty of always having your bills paid on time, and therefore avoiding the risk of electricity and gas disconnection due to arrears and all the consequent inconveniences (proof of payment, waiting times and reactivation costs, etc.). The payment takes place automatically, so you don't even have to carry out any type of additional operation. Obviously, you won't even have to leave the house and queue at the post office or tobacconist's. Furthermore, direct debit allows you to save the cost of the bulletin postal, up to 20 euros per year for electricity and gas.
Not only the contractual formulas for telecommunications but also many electricity and gas tariffs on the Free Energy Market, including the most convenient ones, only provide for this payment option. The most common concern of users related to this mode is that of losing control over expenses. In reality, there is no risk: the IBAN can only be used by the supplier and the bill is sent to the customer in advance but automatically paid only when due, allowing you to check the amounts and report any problems to the supplier. Furthermore, in the event of an error, some banks allow you to cancel a debit made with direct debit even after a few weeks.
We also pay the paper bill online
Even if you don't want to give up your paper bill, you can always pay it online without leaving your home. Obviously, these methods also apply to web bills. Generally you can proceed directly from our mobile phone with the supplier's App or via the web from the Customer Area, making the payment by entering your card details or using services such as Paypal or MyBank. Or you can pay byhome banking. This method is similar to bank direct debit, but unlike the latter, it requires a specific operation for each payment: in fact, you must access the bank's customer area and fill in the payment details. Find all the necessary information in the bill.
