Important Information Regarding Electronic Communication and Transactions
Read below for:
- Electronic Bill Payment Terms and Conditions
- Text Alerts / Short Message Service (SMS) Terms and Conditions
Read This Notice Carefully and Keep a Copy for Your Records
Prior to your receiving login access to the City of Austin Utilities' electronic bill payment service, the City of Austin (City) requires you to review the terms and conditions of this User Access Agreement as defined below. You indicate your consent of same by using the Online Service.
Notice: Read this agreement carefully before you log in and use the options available on this website and made available to you by the City of Austin and its third-party service providers (together, the Online Service).
If you do not wish to become a party to this agreement and be bound by all of its terms and conditions, select the appropriate button or link to cancel the login process and do not use the Online Service. These terms and conditions may be amended or supplemented at any time, and you take the Online Service subject to such updated terms as a user of the Service.
Electronic Bill Payment Terms and Conditions
Electronic Bill Payment Access User Agreement
This Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment User Access Agreement ("Agreement") is provided by City of Austin Utilities and governs your use of the Online Service.
Functions provided by the Online Service are also governed by other separate legal agreement(s), such as the City's Utility Services Regulations, which you may have with the City of Austin, or any of its affiliates, including but not limited to, their terms and conditions.
The following definitions apply to this Agreement:
- City — The City of Austin, Texas
- Online Service — The City of Austin Utilities' electronic bill presentment and payment system available on the Internet
- Agreement — The Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment User Access Agreement
- Utility Account — The utility services you are being provided by the City of Austin
- Business Day — Monday through Friday, excluding City Holidays
- You, your — The person, persons, or entities in whose name the Utility Account is carried on the books of the City of Austin and shall include the masculine, feminine, and neuter genders and plural as well as the singular whenever the context so permits
- Us, our, we, and payee — The City of Austin and all of its affiliates and subsidiaries
Permission to Access
As additional consideration for your agreeing to these terms and conditions, the City of Austin is willing to provide you with a limited, non-exclusive, right to access this website and use the Online Service for your internal use only, but only pursuant to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
Security Deposit Waiver
Qualifying customers can have their security deposit waived if certain conditions are met. Customers are encouraged to review the following for details of those conditions:
Utility Account Functions
The Online Service allows City of Austin customers to access information regarding their Utility Account and initiate transactions from customers' bank accounts to pay their City of Austin utility bills. Such Utility Account functions include the following:
- View Utility Account information
- Schedule payments to the City of Austin
- Report Utility Account problems, request information, or order changes to Utility Account information or services via a secured communication and transaction channel
By directing the City of Austin to initiate a payment, you authorize the City of Austin or its agent to withdraw from the banking account you designate the amount of funds required to complete the assigned transaction.
You regard your requests for Utility Account functions, instructions to change existing Utility Account information or services, and other communications received via the Online Service as legal authorizations by you.
Customer Service
You may contact the City of Austin by calling our Utility Customer Care Center at 512-494-9400. Representatives are available to assist you Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CST.
Customer Care representatives may provide assistance only within the guidelines set forth by this Agreement and the City's Utility Service Regulations. Customer Care representatives are not authorized to negotiate any of the terms of this Agreement or of the Online Service.
The same encryption process used to secure your Utility Account information secures messages sent via the forms provided by the Service. The Customer Care feature provided by the Service may be used to securely transmit confidential information to the City of Austin.
Errors with Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTs)
In case of errors or questions about your online payment, contact the City of Austin by the following means:
Write to us:
City of Austin Utilities Customer Care
Attn: Escalations
721 Barton Springs Rd.
Austin, TX 78704-1186
Call us: 512-494-9400
Email us: customercare@coautilities.com
The City of Austin must hear from you within sixty (60) days after the first statement on which the problem appeared. Please contact us and provide:
- Your name and Utility Account number
- A description of the error or the transfer about which you are unsure, and explain why you believe there is an error
- The dollar amount of the suspected error
If you call us to report a suspected error, we may require that you send us your complaint or questions in writing within ten (10) business days.
The City of Austin will notify you of the result of our investigation within ten (10) business days after we hear from you and will correct any error promptly. If we need more time, however, we may take up to forty-five (45) days to investigate your complaint or questions. If we decide to do so, we will provisionally credit your Utility Account within ten (10) business days for the amount you think is in error, so that you will have the use of the money during the time it takes us to complete our investigation.
If the City of Austin asks you to state your complaint or question in writing and we do not receive it within ten (10) days, we may not provisionally credit your Utility Account. If we decide that there was no error, the City of Austin will send you a written explanation within three (3) business days after we finish the investigation. You may ask for copies of the documents that were used in the investigation.
Customer Responsibility for Reporting Stolen Passwords or Unauthorized Transfers
You must notify the City of Austin Utilities Customer Care immediately at 512-494-9400 if you become aware of an incident that might have compromised your account. Calling Customer Care directly is the most secure way to notify us so as to limit the amount of loss.
Copyright Information
All logos, service marks, trade names, and trademarks contained within this site are the sole property of the City of Austin or its agents. It is prohibited for anyone to use such trademarks. This site may also contain such logos and trademarks of a third party.
The content contained in this site is protected by copyright law. It is prohibited for users to display, distribute, publish, sell, transmit, license, and create derivative works or to use any content that is contained within the City of Austin's website for any purpose whatsoever. Any unauthorized use of this information may be punishable by law.
Disclaimer to the Online Service
The City of Austin will make commercially reasonable efforts through the Online Service to complete a bill payment to your Utility Account on time and in the correct amount in accord with this Agreement. However, the City of Austin is responsible for making such efforts to fulfill only those Utility Account requests actually received via the Online Service.
The City of Austin in any event shall not be liable nor accountable for any damages or losses of any kind (whether direct or indirect) resulting from a delay or any other failure of the Online Service, including transmittal of a message via the service, whether arising from user error, malfunction of equipment, natural impediments, networking impediments, and/or inaccurate or incomplete information, failure by you to have sufficient funds in your banking account, or by any other cause, and by using the Online Service you understand the possibility of same and agree to this. In no event shall the City of Austin's or the third-party service providers' liability for damages exceed the total aggregate fees you paid to the City of Austin for the Online Service transaction.
Though every attempt is made to provide accurate and timely information on our website, the Online Service (and all information and data you may receive as a result of accessing the Online Service) is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, and no warranties, either express or implied, are made with respect to the Online Service and such information, including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title or non-infringement, or any other warranties that may arise from usage of trade or course of dealing. The City of Austin and the third-party service providers do not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use of or the results of the use of the Online Service (and all information and data you may receive as a result of accessing the Online Service) in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise and do not warrant that the operation of the website and the Online Service will be uninterrupted or error free. The City of Austin and the third-party service providers expressly disclaim any warranties not stated herein. You agree that the Online Service (and all information and data you may receive as a result of accessing the Online Service) is not a consumer good for purposes of federal or state warranty laws. These terms and conditions may be amended or supplemented at any time, and you take the Online Service subject to such updated terms as a user of the Service.
If You Do Not Consent to These Terms and Conditions
If you do not consent to continuous monitoring of activity on the Online Service and the terms and conditions explained above, please exit the Online Service now.
Text Alerts / Short Message Service (SMS)
Use of the City of Austin Utilities Text Messaging System
By enrolling to participate in any of the Short Message Service (SMS) text alerts services or by using our text alerts services at any time, you agree to and accept the Terms and Conditions set forth here. These Terms and Conditions may change from time to time at the City of Austin's sole discretion, and your continued participation in the service constitutes your agreement to such revised Terms and Conditions.
Términos y condiciones de las alertas de apagones en español
Message and data rates may apply. If you have any questions about your text plan or data plan, it is best to contact your wireless provider.
Austin Energy is able to deliver messages to major mobile phone carriers and most minor carriers.
If your phone is not in range of a transmission site or if sufficient network capacity is not available at a particular time, alerts sent via SMS may not be delivered to you. Even within a coverage area, factors beyond the control of your carrier may interfere with message delivery, including your mobile device, terrain, proximity to buildings, foliage, and weather. Austin Energy and your carrier do not guarantee that alerts will be delivered. You acknowledge that urgent alerts may not be received in a timely manner.
Due to the unpredictable nature of weather-related damage which may result in power outages, the message frequency may vary.
User Conduct
You agree not to send or otherwise make available content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, or contains hate speech.
Rights
By sending text messages, you grant the City of Austin the perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform, and publicly display any and all text message content provided by you to the City of Austin (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such content into other works in any format now known or later developed.
Disclaimer of Warranties
You expressly understand and agree that your participation in the text program is at your sole risk. The text program is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. The City of Austin and its officials, officers, agents, employees, partners, contractors, consultants, licensors, and suppliers expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
The City of Austin and its officials, officers, agents, employees, partners, contractors, consultants, licensors, and suppliers make no warranty that (a) the text program will meet your requirements; (b) the text program will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; or (c) the results that may be obtained from the use of the text program will be accurate or reliable.
Limitation on Liability
You expressly understand and agree that the City of Austin and its officials, officers, agents, employees, partners, contractors, consultants, licensors, and suppliers shall not be liable to you for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses or any other matter relating to the text program.
Unenrollment and Termination of SMS Services
Austin Energy reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend any or all of its text service, in whole or in part, for any reason, with or without notice to you.
Customers who are enrolled to receive text alerts may opt-out from any or all text alert programs at any time. Manage your City of Austin Utilities Energy Usage communication preferences at coautilities.com/go/notifications. You may also opt-out of text messages by responding STOP to any message.
If you have any questions regarding privacy, please read our web privacy policy.
