CLARKSBURG, W.Va., March 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Hope residential customers will save $150,000 a year as a result of successful company negotiations for a new, lower convenience fee for customers when they pay their gas bill by phone using credit or debit cards.

Effective March 1, customers will pay only $1.65 when using a credit or debit card to pay their bill by phone. This is nearly a 60 percent reduction from the previous fee of $3.95. The amount that can be charged per transaction also moved up from $600 to $1,000.  Dominion does not receive any portion of the $1.65 convenience fee; the entire fee is paid to the company that processes the transaction for the customer.

"We listened to our customers on this," said Scott Miller, vice president and general manager, Dominion Hope.  "This is a service they use and value, and we are glad they can now take advantage of it at a lower cost. The lower fees that we negotiated with the processing company are another part of our continuing effort to provide customers with the best possible value for their energy dollar."

Customers have many options to pay their bills, including:

• eBill customers make free payments using their bank account through Manage Your Account at www.dom.com, the company's online portal for electronic transactions;
• A bank draft program is available for free and will automatically deduct the exact amount due each month from customer's bank account. This can be coupled with Budget Billing, which equalizes the amount due each month for residential customers;
• Check payments via U.S. mail sent directly to Dominion;
• Authorized Payment Centers throughout the company's service area accept bill payments; a $1.50 convenience fee applies. The third-party vendor's convenience fee of $1.65 applies for residential payments made electronically through Web or by phone;
• Commercial customer fees for these credit/debit card payments remains $14.95 with a payment limit of $15,000.

Of the various payment methods, Miller highlighted the advantages of eBill for customers because it is fast, easy and free, and payments credit the same day.  Notification of the monthly bill is sent by email.

A video explaining eBill can be seen by clicking here (https://www.dom.com/dominion-east-ohio/customer-service/your-bill/ebill-tour-v6-oh.html).

Dominion Hope is part of Dominion (NYSE: D), one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 23,600 megawatts of generation. Dominion operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems and serves retail energy customers in 15 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com. 

SOURCE Dominion Hope