The City of Greeley will launch its new Greeley Utility Portal on Nov. 17, and water customers must re‑register to retain automatic payments and alerts, Dennis Markheim, Key Accounts Coordinator for the City of Greeley Water and Sewer Department, said in a recorded briefing.

Markheim said the portal replaces the city's aging billing system and an external tracking service called Water Smart. "It's being introduced because our current billing system and our webpage for making payments and stuff like that is really out of date," he said. "It's not just a matter of that we want a new system. We we really truly do need a new system. Our current system is is very, labor intensive." The new portal is intended to be more user friendly for both customers and utility billing staff.

The most immediate consequence for customers is that some existing account settings will not migrate. Markheim warned that automatic payments, electronic-statement preferences and other settings in the outgoing system "are going to go away." He said, "Your account number is gonna change, which is very important point to to keep in mind." Customers who use a bank bill-pay service will need to update that service with the new account number so payments post to the correct account.

City officials plan two ways for customers to sign up. If the city already has a valid email address on file, customers will receive an email invitation with a link to create an account after Nov. 17. Customers who do not receive an email can use information on the first mailed statement after the launchspecifically the new account number and the amount due on their most recent billto register in the portal. "Everyone is getting paper bill that that first month," Markheim said, and the city will include a bill insert with simple instructions.

The portal will centralize features such as usage tracking, leak and payment alerts, and different payment methods. "You'll be able to see all of your your usage and you'll also be able to sign up for leak alerts, payment alerts," Markheim said. The city also plans to add more payment options, including Apple Pay in addition to cash, check and credit card.

To ease the transition, the city will publish tutorial videos and screenshots and the portal vendor provides an in-portal guided tour to walk users through setup and features. Markheim described the sign-up as short and straightforward: if customers have their new account number and the amount from their most recent bill, "the steps for actually signing up is like 5 steps." The city also plans a separate tutorial for linking multiple accounts.

On privacy and security, Markheim said the city will not request Social Security numbers and stores only contact information in its system. "Any payment information is actually kept, and encoded within the payment vendor's system. The city doesn't even have access to that and it's extremely, extremely secure," he said, noting the vendor meets national standards.

The city will use email for alerts and customer communications for those who opt in, and customers may also sign up for text alerts. FAQs, tutorial videos and additional sign-up details will be available on the city's utilities web page.

Details not specified in the briefing include an exact list of supported payment vendors and a definitive URL spelling; the briefing provided a web address that appears to be misspelled in the recording. Customers with questions should contact the City of Greeley Water and Sewer Department.