Two of the UK’s leading energy suppliers, British Gas and EDF Energy, are sending over 850,000 pre-pay customers to PayPoint outlets to receive rebates and cash payments worth up to £130 each, using PayPoint’s fast-growing CashOut scheme.
From early August and November, British Gas and EDF Energy are respectively writing to their customers with details of the payments due to them and how they can obtain them. British Gas customers will be able to obtain a dual fuel rebate, while EDF Energy customers will receive a discount under the Warm Home Discount scheme. The letters contain a unique barcode, which is scanned by the PayPoint retailer, who will hand over the money.
“Almost a million payments worth more than £17.5 million have been paid out by PayPoint retailers since the CashOut service was introduced two years ago,” says Seamus Smith, Managing Director of PayPoint UK & Ireland.
“Not only has that generated £140,000 in commission to our retailers but it has also saved them around £120,000 in cash banking charges* – a total of more than £260,000 going into the retailers’ pockets on top of the extra sales they make from people receiving the money spending some of it in the store.
"This is the third consecutive year that BG and EDF Energy have returned cash to their customers using CashOut, which is now firmly established as an effective generator of footfall and incremental sales for our retailers.”
Further benefits for retailers include an increase in customers who might previously have topped up their gas and/or electricity elsewhere, and the added opportunity for customers collecting their cash to spend it in their store.
Jackie Kelly, Value Delivery Manager at British Gas said “PayPoint’s CashOut scheme has been a real success for us in previous years and has proven to be the most convenient way for our customers to receive their rebates.”
Seamus Smith added: “Loyal customers are of paramount importance to energy companies, so schemes like EDF Energy’s Warm Home Discount recognises those who have difficulty coping with their energy bills. Most of these customers receiving the discount top up their energy at PayPoint, so distributing the discount at our stores is the obvious way to ensure they get it.”
Peter Rose, who has a PayPoint terminal in his service station, Tayfen Autopoint, in Bury St Edmunds, is enthusiastic about CashOut: “I wish we did this sort of scheme more often! The scheme has created lots of business coming into the store, with lots of the usual customers and some new faces purchasing goods while in store. The process is very easy to follow and I’m happy to see the money coming back on time with a little bit of extra commission on top!”
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