Pembroke Pines Online Account System
Go Green - Sign Up to Receive Your Utility Bill By Email


City of Pembroke Pines residents have the opportunity to reduce paper consumption and waste by participating in Pembroke Pines Online Account System.  This electronic billing system is a convenient way for customers to manage their Utility account and help the environment at the same time.

By using this system to manage your account you will now have the ability to:

  • Stop receiving a paper bill.
  • Receive your bill by email the same day it’s rendered.
  • Receive an email notification that your payment was received.
  • View your utility bill and payment history.
  • Receive electronic versions of bill messages.
  • Sign up for City emails.

Pembroke Pines Online Account System

Purpose

Pembroke Pines Online Account System allows the user to receive their Utility bill by email, receive notification of payment by email and decide if they want to stop receiving paper bills.

Requirements
In order to successfully register for the Pembroke Pines Online Account System the user must have access to internet and a legitimate email address.

To be able to set up a Pembroke Pines Online Account and stop receiving paper bills sent by regular mail, a PIN number displayed on the Utility Bill is needed; therefore, a Utility Bill issued after September 1, 2010 needs to be available.

Log-in Screen

The first screen that a user sees is the Log-in screen (Fig. 1). This screen accepts a user’s email address and a password, if one had been assigned to the user. In order to be assigned a password, a user must register by following the “Register Here” link in the lower right of the log in box, which will load the Registration Screen (Fig. 2). Pressing the “Home” button from any screen of this system will lead the user back to the City of Pembroke Pines home page (www.ppines.com)

Figure  1: Log In Screen

Registration Screen

On this screen a user can register with the Pembroke Pines Online Account System. To register successfully, a user must enter a valid email address accessible to the user, enter a password of 8 to 40 characters in length, including at least one numeric character and then enter the password again to confirm the password.

Figure  2: Registration Screen

Verification Information Screen

By pressing the "REGISTER" button on the Registration Screen a verification email will be sent to your email account. You must then go to your email account open the verification e-mail and click on the verification link in the email. You can now log-in to the Pembroke Pines Online Account System.

Figure  3: Verification Info Screen

Main Pembroke Pines Online Account System Menu

On this screen (Fig. 4) a user will see all the options available to his/her Pembroke Pines Online Account System. Currently, the following options are available:

  • Change Password
  • Change Email Address
  • My Information
  • Receive City Email Option
  • Manage Utility Billing Accounts
  • Add Utility Billing Account

By picking any of these options, the user goes to the appropriate screen.

Figure 4: Pembroke Pines Online Account Main Menu Screen

Change Password Screen

By selecting the Change Password Option from the Pembroke Pines Online Account System Menu (Fig. 3), the user arrives at the Change Password Screen (Fig. 5). On this screen the user may change the password for his/her Pembroke Pines Online Account. On this screen, the email address that the Pembroke Pines Online Account is registered with needs to be entered, after which a new password is entered and then the new password is enter again to confirm the new password.
 

Figure  5: Change password Screen

Change Email Address Screen

If your email address has changed simply enter the new address and then confirm the new address. (Fig. 6). The system will immediately send a verification email to the new email address and you will be logged out.  You will not be able to log in with the old email address.

Figure  6: Change Email Address Screen

My Information Screen

My Information Screen (Fig. 7) serves to enter user’s personal information. This information includes First name, Last name, Middle Initial, Phone Number, Home Address, and the Mailing Address. At any point, user can press the “Same As Home Address” button. This would load the Home Address into the Mailing Address fields.

Figure  7: My Information Screen

Receive City Email Screen

To Receive City Emails on various events and meetings, simply check the box. (Fig. 8)
 

Figure  8: Receive City Emails Screen

Utility Billing Information and Preferences Screen

If the user selects Manage Utility Billing Accounts from the Pembroke Pines Online Accounts Main Menu (Fig. 3), the utility Billing Information and preferences Screen (Fig. 9) will be displayed. This screen includes up to 10 Utilities accounts, which the user had added on his/her Pembroke Pines Online Account. If there are more accounts included by the user, he/she can choose the page number by selecting it from the list of pages on the bottom of the screen right below the list of the utilities accounts

Figure  9: Utility Billing Information and Preferences Screen

Several kinds of data are displayed for every Utility Account attached to the user:
• Account Number displays a clickable Pembroke Pines utility Account Number. By pressing on the account number the user can access the current utility bill for the account
• Service Address displays the site address, at which the account meter is located
• Amount Due displays the outstanding balance.
• Email Bill displays whether the user is receiving the bill by email.
• Paper Bill shows whether the user will receive the utility bill by regular mail. Only the user who has Control over the corresponding Utility Account can change the Paper Bill option.
• Payment Email shows whether or not the user will receive an email whenever a payment is posted to the utility Account.
• Online Control signifies whether or not the user has the full control of the online aspect of the account, it has two options, “Yes” or “No”. They appear in the form of a link. Following that link would take the user to the Utility Account Control Screen (Fig. 10).
• Edit link will allow the user to enter the Notification Preferences Screen (Fig. 12) for the corresponding account where the billing and payment notification preferences can be edited.
• Remove link will remove the corresponding Utilities account from the user’s Pembroke Pines Online Account.
• Pay link will allow the user to pay the outstanding balance online. This option is not yet available.

These details are described in more detail on the screen upon pressing the “Help” button.
 

Add New Utility Account Screen

When the user selects Add Utility Billing Account from the Pembroke Pines Online Accounts Main Menu (Fig. 3), the utility Add Utility Bill Account Screen (Fig. 10) will be displayed. On this screen the user is prompted to enter the Utility Account number and the house number portion of the service address. For example, if the address of the building is 100 Main Street, 100 is the house number portion of this address and 100 is to be entered in the House Number field.

After the “ADD UTILITY BILL ACCOUNT” button is pressed, the system will display one of two messages:

1. If the account numbered entered exists and the house number matches the address of the account, the message on the screen will read
The Account ************** Was Added. You may add another below. (Actual account number will be displayed instead of **************) The user will now be able to enter another account.
2. If there is any sort of an error finding the Utility account with the account number and/or house number supplied by the user, the message on the screen will read
The Account and House number do not exist. The user will now be able to enter another account.

Figure  10: Add Utility Bill Account Screen

Paperless Billing Option Screen

Following addition of a new Utility Account to the Pembroke Pines Online Account, the Paperless Billing Option Screen (Fig. 11) is displayed. Here, the user will be given an opportunity to change his/her billing preference to paperless. This will require the user to enter the PIN number found on the latest utility bill the user has received.

Having entered the PIN and pressed the “Sign Me Up” button will change the user’s billing preference to receive the utility bill through email. The bills will then begin arriving at the email address specified by user when the Pembroke Pines Online Account was registered.


 

Figure  11:  Paperless Billing Option Screen

After the PIN is entered, the screen will change to confirm that the user is now in Control of the utility account and that the user has now activated the Paperless Billing Options (Fig. 12)

Figure 12: Paperless Billing Option screen after entering PIN

Locate Personal Identification Number (PIN) Screen

The Locate Personal Identification Number (PIN) Screen (Fig. 12) will help a user locate the PIN number that will be needed to set up paperless utility bill delivery on the Paperless Billing Option Screen (Fig. 10).  This screen displays a sample bill and the location of the PIN on the bill.  On the image the PIN is circled in a red oval and pointed to with a red arrow.

Figure  13: Locate PIN Screen

Notification Preferences Screen

On the Notification Preferences Screen (Fig. 13) a user can make a choice of whether to have the email sent notifying of a new bill or that a bill payment has been processed. For the user who is controlling the corresponding Utility Account the Do Not Send Paper Bill option is also available.

Figure  14: Notification preferences Screen

There is no start date or end date, on which any of the above changes take effect. As soon as any of the above options are changed, these changes will take effect immediately.

There are occasions, on which paper utility bills are still sent regardless of whether the paper Bill option is set to “Yes” or “No”.
These occasions are:

• Final Bill
• A bill with an unpaid balance for an inactive account
• A Re-Bill, which is sent to remediate an earlier billing error


 

Click here to download a printable copy of the Online Account System Manual in pdf.