5 reasons every utility should have a Facebook Fan page
April 6th, 2010
If you haven’t heard of Facebook yet… well, you probably have. What value does it serve for a utility? Here are a few reasons I think every utility should have one.
- Customers want to know about rates, construction projects, conservation, online bill pay, and more.
- Facebook now has over 300 million users. Your customers are on there. See #1.
- You can easily post news and other information about your utility. See #1.
- You’ll give your customers somewhere to go when they are tired of playing Farmville.
- Your kids will think you are pretty cool.
So you can see, Facebook can be a real plus.
For a more serious article about utilities and social media, read Kate Rowland’s article called The Power of Twitter and Facebook for utilities.
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TAUD Awards Webb Creek Utility District Region 2 Best Discharge Water
April 5th, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Beth Blackwell-Hardiman, Bob Freudenthal
(615) 896-9022
bethblackwell@taud.org
Webb Creek Utility District Wins Regional Competition for Best Discharge Water in the Region
Alcoa – The Tennessee Association of Utility Districts (TAUD) held its first ever “Best Testing Discharge Water Contest” for wastewater treatment plants at the Alcoa Service Center on Wednesday, March 3, 2010. This contest was held in conjunction with the annual Best Tasting Water Contest. Webb Creek Utility District won the Region 2 competition for the best discharge water.
TAUD Region Two consists of: Blount, Cocke, Grainger, Hamblen, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, and Sevier counties.
Eight different utilities from Region Two submitted samples of their discharge water for competition. The utilities that entered the contest were: the City of Alcoa, First Utility District of Knox County, Hallsdale Powell Utility District, Johnson Bible College, City of Pigeon Forge, South Blount Utility District, Webb Creek Utility District and West Knox Utility District.
Brian Boyd, National Weather Service; Steve Roberts, TDEC; Mary Short, USDA; Tracy Tramel, SRW and Associates; and Nathan Babelay, McGill and Associates participated as judges for the contest. The discharge water samples were judged on their clarity, bouquet (scent/odor) turbidity and pH levels.
The Tennessee Association of Utility Districts is the oldest rural water association in the nation and serves as the Tennessee chapter of the National Rural Water Association. TAUD serves as a source of training, technical assistance, and acts as a legislative liaison to the over 420 water, wastewater, and natural gas utility members within the state. For more information please visit our website at www.taud.org or contact Beth Blackwell-Hardiman at 615-896-9022.
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Cirq Media joins Georgia Rural Water Association (GRWA)
February 25th, 2010
Cirq Media Solutions has joined the Georgia Rural Water Association (GRWA – www.grwa.org). The GRWA is a non-profit organization representing rural systems throughout the State of Georgia in regard to drinking water and wastewater needs. Cirq Media provides a complete Web Solution for utilities called utiliCIRQ. utiliCIRQ incorporates an easy to update website with online bill pay integration.
“Our goal is to assist rural water systems in the state of Georgia with a simple to update website,” said Theron Hatch, President of Cirq Media Solutions and the developer of the utiliCIRQ product.
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Paintsville Utilities integrates Online Bill Pay solution
February 16th, 2010
Cirq Media just completed an Online Bill Pay solution for Paintsville Utilities in Paintsville, KY. This online payment system is a follow-on module to the current utiliCIRQ™ web solution recently implemented by Cirq Media. This payment system uses Authorize.net secure payment gateway and easily allows customers to pay with multiple payment types including credit/debit cards and eChecks.
Are you interested in learning more about the utiliCIRQ web solution for your utility? Please contact us at (888) 335-7222 to learn more.
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Cirq Media completes website for Paintsville Utilities
December 21st, 2009
Cirq Media just completed a new utiliCIRQ Web Solution for Paintsville Utilities in Paintsville, KY. The utility didn’t have a website or any other means of accepting payments online. This new solution will provide customers with an easy to use online tool for paying bills and keeping informed of policies and rate changes as they occur.
Paintsville has over 8000 customers of a combination of water, gas, and wastewater throughout most of Johnson County and several surrounding counties.
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Webb Creek Utility District converts website and adds bill pay
November 13th, 2009
Webb Creek Utility District serves over 700 water and wasterwater customers in the northern part of Gatlinburg, TN. This area is a rapidly growing tourist area. In fact, many of WCUD customers live away from the area, some even overseas. Paying bills is sometimes tough because of the location of some of the account holders. After seeing a demonstration of the utiliCIRQ solution at the TAUD conference in Gatlinburg in the summer, Janice Carver, the office manager for WCUD, saw a great solution. She could update her website and create a solution to getting her bills paid easier for her customers.
Cirq Media developed an easy to update website and also installed an online payment system that lets WCUD accept eChecks, credit cards, and bank drafts, even recurring billing. Now WCUD can take credit card or eCheck orders over the phone or direct their customers to the www.wcud.org website for a secure online bill pay area.
They also wanted to make it easy for their customers to get general information and easier for WCUD to make updates to the website. That is where utiliCIRQ separates itself from competitors. The WCUD solution included the following:
- a new website with update ability from within HB&TS
- wcud.org email accounts (also includes a shared calendar and document storage solution)
- online secure bill pay
- virtual terminal for managing credit card, bankdraft, and eCheck payments
- a newsletter section to provide current info to customers
- off-site hosting and backup
- annual support
These items are all part of a typical utiliCIRQ Utility Web Solution package. However, we customize each one for your utility. Give us a call to schedule a demo.
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HB&TS Utility District updates with utiliCIRQ website
November 1st, 2009
HB&TS Utility District serves over 6,600 customers with clean drinking water in Franklin, TN. This area south and west of historic downtown Franklin is a rapidly growing area, including a new Kroger / Target shopping center and other planned residential and commercial projects. After seeing Milcrofton Utility District’s website, another Franklin, TN utility using the utiliCIRQ Web Solution, Troy Watkins from HB&TS approached us with a desire to update their website.
They wanted to make it easy for their customers to get information and easier for HB&TS employees to make updates to the site. That is where utiliCIRQ separates itself from competitors. The HB&TS solution included the following:
- a new logo
- a new website with update ability from within HB&TS
- hbtsud.com email accounts (they were using bellsouth.net)
- a news update section to provide current info to customers
- off-site hosting and backup
- annual support
These items are all part of a typical utiliCIRQ Utility Web Solution package. However, we customize each one for your utility. Give us a call to schedule a demo.
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Milcrofton Utility District adds Online Bill Pay
October 28th, 2009Milcrofton Utility District adds Online Bill Pay to its utiliCIRQ website. Now customers of Milcrofton can pay bills, view account information, and more just by creating a login at Milcrofton’s online bill pay page. Is your utility interested in a new website, a site makeover, or adding bill pay? Give us a call to learn more.
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Cirq Media to exhibit at TAUD Business Conference
August 4th, 2009
Cirq Media Solutions will be exhibiting at the 2009 TAUD Business Summit. Cirq Media will be showing its utiliCIRQ™ Solutions for Utilities. utiliCIRQ™ is a premeir web solution for the utility industry. Please visit us at Booth #76.
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Cirq Media joins TAUD
July 22nd, 2009Cirq Media Solutions just joined the Tennessee Association of Utility Districts (TAUD). TAUD serves over 500 utilities and businesses in Tennessee by providing support in the areas of technical, legal, and operations. Check out their website at www.taud.org.
Cirq Media’s utiliCIRQ Solution for Utilities meets the needs of utilities of all flavors by providing a cost-effective and easy to update custom website package. For more info, contact us at 615-719-7839.
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