Payscore and Public Grid Add Utility Verification and Resident Savings to the Approval Process

Residents who finish income and identity verification through Payscore can now set up or verify their electricity, and find savings long after move-in.

SEATTLE, WA, UNITED STATES, October 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Payscore, the income, identity and asset verification platform used by property management companies across market rate and affordable housing, today announced it has added utility verification to its resident experience through a partnership with Public Grid. Residents who complete verification with Payscore are now prompted to set up their electricity or connect an existing account, and property teams can see where each resident stands.
Housing costs are only part of what it takes to keep a home. Utilities are one of the largest bills residents pay every month, and one of the easiest to get wrong, especially for households with the least room in their budget. Payscore and Public Grid share a view that affordability should be built into the move-in process, not left for residents to figure out on their own.

Approval is not the end of the work. Between a signed lease and move-in, one step still runs on trust: whether the resident has actually put electricity in their name. Industry estimates put the share of residents who miss that step at 40 to 50 percent, and most of them are not trying to avoid anything. They did not know how or when to sign up. The usual response is to catch it 60 to 90 days later and bill a fee. A large share of those fees are never collected, and in affordable housing the practice is increasingly restricted, which leaves the unpaid electricity on the property’s books.
Payscore built its business on source data. It connects directly to financial institutions, payroll providers and gig platforms, covering 99 percent of financial institutions in North America, and relies on uploaded documents only about 2 percent of the time. Utility verification applies the same rule. Instead of accepting a typed account number or a screenshot, the resident sets up the account through Public Grid or logs in to their utility so the account itself is confirmed.

For residents, setup is the start of the benefit. Public Grid is free to residents, and it looks at what they are paying, which programs and assistance they qualify for, and where available, whether a better rate exists. Residents often miss programs they qualify for because nobody tells them they exist, and Public Grid is built to surface them, with particular value for low income households. In markets where residents can choose a supplier, Public Grid also keeps watching the account after setup, so a low introductory rate that jumps two months later gets caught instead of quietly raising the bill. Setup itself takes under three minutes, compared with the six to seven hours of hold times and paperwork a manual setup can take. Residents who have already set up electricity on their own can verify it by connecting their utility account securely or uploading a bill.
For property teams, the status is visible in one place: not started, pending activation, active, or shut off after move-in. A resident who has simply not finished setup can be reminded before keys are handed over. A resident whose account is cancelled after move-in is flagged early, before months of charges land on the building’s ledger.

The data helps owners beyond move-in. When residents connect their accounts, owners get in-unit usage data they otherwise cannot see, which they need to forecast operating costs, meet benchmarking requirements and report on sustainability goals. For Payscore customers that data arrives through the product they already use, with no new vendor to manage.

“Payscore started with a simple idea, make life easier for property teams and for the people applying to live in their communities,” said Mark Fiebig, Co-founder, Payscore. “Setting up electricity is one of the first things a new resident has to get right, and it is easy to get wrong. Putting it inside the verification flow means one less thing for the resident to chase and one less surprise for the property, and it is one more way to make living in our customers’ communities more affordable.”

“Most utility fraud is a resident who did not know how or when to sign up,” said Ryan Freed, Co-founder of Public Grid. “Fixing that right after approval matters, but our larger goal is affordability. Too many residents miss help they qualify for because nobody points them to it. Payscore is where residents already are at that moment, and their source-data approach is how utility verification should work.”

The partnership is built to keep working after the lease is signed. Every month a resident stays connected is another chance to surface help they qualify for and keep their energy costs manageable, and the two companies plan to extend the same approach across the properties Payscore serves.

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About Payscore
Payscore is a direct-source income and identity verification platform that helps property managers and affordable housing operators approve qualified applicants faster and more accurately. Instead of relying on applicant-supplied documents, Payscore verifies directly from bank and payroll accounts, connecting to more than 99% of North American financial institutions. Founded in 2017, Payscore is headquartered in Seattle. Learn more at: https://www.payscore.com/

About Public Grid
Public Grid (Cottage Energy, Inc. d.b.a. Public Grid) is the utility setup and savings partner for multifamily, single family rental housing and homeowners, co-founded by Zack Schmitz, Joe Robbins and Ryan Freed. Public Grid replaces a six to seven hour manual electricity setup with a single link that takes under three minutes, helps people find savings and programs they qualify for to make energy more affordable, and gives property teams visibility into whether each resident’s account is active. Public Grid is the trusted energy partner to the leading names in multifamily and residential real estate, helping millions of people save money on their energy bills. Learn more at publicgrid.energy.

Media Contacts
Payscore: Nick Henning | nick.henning@payscore.com | 218-766-8467
Public Grid: Georgia Perez | georgia@onepublicgrid.com | 206-356-9872

Georgia Perez
Public Grid

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