After a network glitch on Saturday, causing thousands of Memphians to fruitlessly stand in line for hours with hopes of paying a significantly reduced Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) bill, the utility had to temporarily disable customers from paying their bills at the nearly 100 pay kiosks across the city that were affected by the glitch.
However, MLGW officials told a Memphis City Council committee today that the utility expects to enable its customers to begin paying their bills on the kiosks again by the end of the week.
The glitch in the system, according to a statement released Monday by CEO and President of MLGW Jerry Collins Jr., was caused by a software problem with the independent utility payment processor, TIO Networks which owns and operates the pay kiosks— not a glitch or breech in MLGW’s systems.
Representatives from TIO Networks also spoke to the council committee today and told them that the software glitch— an issue they say the company has never experienced before— had been resolved on Saturday.
Additionally, the company’s representatives say TIO has put measures in place to avoid the same problem in the future.
On an average Saturday, about 800 customers will make payments at these TIO-owned kiosks, but MLGW officials say once the rumor spread on this particular Saturday, 23,000 individuals ended up making payments at the kiosks that day.
However, officials say most payments were in the $1 to $10 range, with a $2 convenience fee charged to the majority of the customers.
TIO officials say “the right things to do” is to reimburse those customers who paid a convenience fee, having credited the money back to their MLGW accounts on Monday.
