The Seoul Metropolitan Government is pushing to expand enrollment in electronic billing for water charges, replacing paper bills with notifications via email, text message, or mobile apps. The city plans to step up public outreach this year with a goal of signing up 100,000 new subscribers.
According to the city on Tuesday, Seoul offers households that sign up for e-billing a 1% discount on their water bill each billing period, with a minimum of 200 won and a maximum of 1,000 won per cycle. Households that enroll in both e-billing and automatic payment receive an additional one-time discount of 3,000 won. Residents already using one of the two services can still receive the benefit by signing up for the other.
Water charges are billed every two months, resulting in six payments per year. E-billing subscribers can save between 1,200 won and up to 6,000 won annually. Combined with the one-time 3,000 won reduction, the maximum savings reach 9,000 won.
As of last year, 460,000 Seoul households — roughly 22% of the total — had enrolled in e-billing, and the cumulative fee reductions returned to them amounted to 1 billion won. The city estimates the shift eliminated approximately 2.55 million paper bills, saving about 1.6 billion won in printing and delivery costs and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 9 tons during the production and mailing process.
The city plans to strengthen on-site promotion by enclosing informational flyers in paper bills and introducing e-billing and automatic payment options during home visits for the Arisu water quality verification program. Water bill notifications and payments have also been made available through financial apps including Shinhan Card, Toss, Kakao Pay, and Hana Pay to improve payment convenience.
Residents can apply for e-billing and automatic payment through the 120 Dasan Call Center, their local waterworks office, the Arisu Cyber Customer Center, or the "Chatbot Arisutok" on the "Seoul Arisu Headquarters" channel on KakaoTalk.
"The e-billing service is a practical, everyday service that not only improves convenience for residents but also helps reduce paper use and carbon emissions," said Joo Yong-tae, head of the Seoul Arisu Headquarters. "We expect it to cut approximately 2.55 million sheets of paper annually and reduce carbon dioxide by about 9 tons, and we hope many residents will take interest and participate."