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TIO Networks launches mobile-payment application for California utility

The company developed an iPhone app because of the higher number of iPhone owners in the San Francisco Bay Area.

February 13, 2011

TIO Networks Corp. today announced that it has launched a mobile payment application for the Apple iPhone, which enables customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) to pay their utility bills.

"We launched it last December in the San Francisco Bay Area and the surrounding communities, where PG&E has 6 million customers," said John Lewis, who heads business development for TIO Networks, which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. "There has been some uptake. Some 3,000 customers have downloaded the App and used it."

TIO decided to first develop an application for the iPhone because of the higher number of iPhone owners in the San Francisco Bay Area. Apple is headquartered in nearby Cupertino, Calif.

Customers of the San Francisco-based utility download TIO's free mobile application from Apple's app store. They then link the mobile application to a payment vehicle, including Visa- and MasterCard-branded cards or to a bank account, Lewis said. TIO's mobile application features a user interface in Spanish and English for real-time access to a customer's account balance. 

PG&E is now promoting the mobile payment service with billboard advertising in the San Francisco Bay Area, Lewis said. TIO plans to introduce similar mobile payment applications for Android and Blackberry phones.