According to the PayItGreen Alliance, a coalition of financial services companies promoting electronic billing and payment, if 20% of U.S. households switched to electronic billing and payment, each year the environmental benefits would include:

• Saving 150,939,615 pounds of paper
• Saving 1,811,275 trees
• Reducing enough wastewater to fill 2,180 Olympic-size swimming pools
• 8,597,328 fewer household garbage bags of waste
• 3,920,802,916 fewer pounds of greenhouse gas emissions

Paperless billing also saves costs for the billers.

While many people have concerns about the safety of online billing, most identity thefts are due to lost checkbooks and stolen bills and statements.

To sign up for paperless billing with Jackson EMC, go to www.jacksonemc.com/ebill. If you haven’t already signed up for online access, you’ll need to create a profile. Once you select Paperless Billing, you’ll no longer receive a bill in the mail, but you will receive e-mail notification that your bill is available online.