Bumpy rollout for customer platform: City working out kinks on Lodi Connect, an online hub for local residents

Feb. 13—The City of Lodi rolled out a new online utility account management platform earlier this month, but residents are not happy with the inability to log on and pay their bills.

Lodi Connect went live on Feb. 2, and is designed to allow residents to pay all their bills — utility, invoices, parking permits or reconnection fees — in one place.

The new portal also gives residents various options to pay their bills, either by phone, text, in person, online or through an automatic payment plan.

But on the same day the new system went live, Lodi residents took to the city's social media pages explaining they either could not log on, or their payments were not going through.

"Tried to log in with my original email and (password), no luck," Zachary Aceves posted. "Tried to do forgot password. Never got an email. Tried to do forgot username. No email. Tried to log in multiple times. Got locked out."

Aceves said his bill was due Feb. 5, and received an email that day stating his payment was not processed. He feared the city would charge him a late fee.

Mary Campbell, the city's spokeswoman, said staff was aware of the concerns posed by residents, adding the Lodi Connect social media post had been updated to let customers know they need to create an entirely new account through the platform.

"There will be a 60-day hold on all seizures or disconnections while people get their new accounts registered," she said. "And when registering, they're going to need to include their account numbers, otherwise (the system) will come back with an error message."

Some residents who commented on the post said they could still not log on to the new system after inputting account numbers.

Interim city manager Andrew Keys said customers must include the account numbers as printed on bills, complete with dashes, for successful registration.

He added there was an issue with a few customer accounts not sent to the firm that created the web platform, with initial data files for conversion, but that had been corrected as of Monday.

"There was initially an issue with cell phones where payments were not going through," Keys said of customers' payment issues. "Customers would not receive a confirmation for the transaction. The issue has been corrected as of Feb. 8."

Last March, the Lodi City Council approved a five-year agreement with Irvin-based Smart Energy Systems for a customer web portal solution to cost no more than $631,500.

Keys said the new service will save the city $225,778 over the term of the five-year contract.

"The new online system will provide a new online platform for customers that will include comprehensive information about their account, payment options, and customer service assistance by providing a number of features and enhancements to the current customer experience," he said.

The platform allows customers to access historical and current hourly electric and water usage; the ability to update account information; online chats with chatbot or customer service representatives; notifications to help manage utility usage and costs; information and forms to apply for conservation and efficiency programs and rebates; ability to integrate smart home devices; electric vehicle information that will allow customers to locate charging stations; status and payment information as well as program charging to align with best pricing options; and real-time integration.

The current online platform only takes payments and does not provide a customer service platform.