Mounting debts and collection procedures: the new warning for millions of Israelis

Moving house or failing to update a residential address leads to a problematic and widespread phenomenon. Every year, about 2.8 million letters from the Israel Electric Corporation are returned to the sender without reaching their destination. The result of returned mail can be frustrating and expensive for consumers, who sometimes discover mounting debts, or even the start of collection procedures, only at late stages, simply because the bills or notices never reached their mailbox.

To deal with the phenomenon, the Israel Electric Corporation is launching an advanced technological solution based on artificial intelligence, which uses the digital representative Maira. The new system synchronizes data from Israel Post with the company's systems in real time. As soon as a letter is reported as undelivered, Maira contacts the customer via a WhatsApp message. After a short and secure identification process, the customer is invited to update their new address or choose to switch to receiving bills through digital channels.

Data from the pilot project conducted by the company shows impressive success: about 36% of customers who received a message from Maira responded to the inquiry. Of these, over 75% successfully passed the data verification, and nearly half, 47%, even successfully updated their details in the system, which ensured proper communication continuity in the future.

The move also has broad economic and ecological significance. Traditional handling of returned mail costs the Israel Electric Corporation between 5 and 10 million shekels per year. The new automated system is expected to save the company's coffers about 1.4 million shekels annually, alongside streamlining work processes and a dramatic reduction in paper waste.