Payscore and Public Grid Add Electricity Setup to Resident Verification Flow

Payscore has added utility verification to its resident approval process through a partnership with Public Grid, prompting residents who finish income and identity verification to set up electricity or connect an existing account. The Seattle company announced the addition on October 29, 2026, according to EIN Presswire.

How the Payscore and Public Grid Setup Works

Residents who complete verification through Payscore are prompted to set up their electricity through Public Grid or log in to their utility so the account itself is confirmed. Payscore said it does not accept a typed account number or a screenshot. Residents who already set up electricity on their own can verify it by connecting their utility account securely or uploading a bill.

Industry estimates put the share of residents who miss the electricity setup step at 40 to 50 percent, and Payscore said most of them 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 which is never collected, the company said. In affordable housing the practice is increasingly restricted, which leaves the unpaid electricity on the property's books.

Public Grid is free to residents and looks at what they are paying, which programs and assistance they qualify for, and where available whether a better rate exists. In markets where residents can choose a supplier, Public Grid keeps watching the account after setup so a low introductory rate that jumps two months later gets caught. Setup takes under three minutes, compared with the six to seven hours of hold times and paperwork a manual setup can take.

Property teams see each resident's status in one place: not started, pending activation, active, or shut off after move-in. A resident who has not finished setup can be reminded before keys are handed over, and an account cancelled after move-in is flagged early. 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.

"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 of Payscore. "Setting up electricity is one of the first things a new resident has to get right, and it is easy to get wrong."

"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."

Public Grid's earlier partnerships include an October 20, 2026 agreement with Househappy to provide homeowners with electricity setup and ongoing energy savings management, EIN Presswire reported.

Payscore's Property Software Integrations

Payscore has built the utility step into a verification business that already runs through property management software, according to akta.pro company records. The company integrated with RealPage in February 2026 and reached full integration with Entrata in December 2025, and in June 2026 it partnered with DoorLoop at Apartmentalize 2026 to embed real-time income verification into DoorLoop's tenant screening workflow.

Payscore 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, the company said. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Seattle.

Public Grid's Exelon Foundation Backing

The Exelon Foundation added Public Grid to its Climate Change Investment Initiative portfolio on August 11, 2026, to support affordable and sustainable energy solutions, Stock Titan reported.