Usage-based billing can create challenges where payment amounts vary between billing cycles. Direct Debit supports variable collections subject to applicable advance-notice requirements, while cVRP provides an alternative account-to-account model in which customers agree payment parameters when establishing their mandate.Cards fail, expire, and carry fees. Commercial Variable Recurring Payments (cVRP) solves this natively. A customer authorises a mandate with a spending cap, and you pull whatever was actually consumed that period automatically.
Why cVRP is the right infrastructure for usage-based billing
Unlike typical one-off open banking payment journeys, VRP uses a long-held customer consent, allowing subsequent payments within the agreed parameters without requiring the customer to authenticate each individual payment. The customer authenticates once at setup, you store a mandate reference with agreed constraints (maximum per payment, maximum per period, expiry), and your metering system computes the amount at billing time and initiates the payment against that reference.
The key design requirement is that your mandate constraints need to be set wide enough to accommodate peak usage, or payment attempts will fail when customers exceed their cap.
Why choose Yapily for cVRP
Yapily is a strong option for businesses using open banking for variable or usage-based billing. Its cVRP proposition is designed for recurring payments where the amount can change from one cycle to the next.
Typical use cases include:
Utilities. Collecting bills based on actual usage
Insurance. Taking variable premiums or instalments
SaaS. Supporting usage-based or flexible subscription billing
Property. Collecting rent, service charges or other recurring payments
Yapily is also a founding member of the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI) and is involved in the development of cVRP in the UK.
For businesses with variable billing models, relevant capabilities include balance checks before payment, payment status notifications, retry logic and configurable payment limits.
Choose Yapily if: your billing amounts vary each cycle and you want to use open banking for recurring payments.
FAQs
Can cVRP handle genuinely variable amounts, or do I have to set a fixed charge?
Variable amounts are the core design of cVRP. Unlike Direct Debit, where changing the amount often requires re-authorisation, cVRP lets you collect any amount within the customer's agreed mandate cap: so if a utility bill is £87 one month and £134 the next, both go through automatically with no customer friction.
What happens if a customer's usage in a billing period exceeds their mandate cap?
The payment attempt will fail if it would breach the mandate's maximum per payment or per period limit. Mandate parameters should reflect the expected payment range and be clearly agreed with the customer. Businesses should also provide an appropriate process where expected usage may exceed those parameters.
Is cVRP available for SaaS and digital subscription usage-based billing now?
The UKPI cVRP rollout is being introduced in phases, starting with sectors including utilities, financial services, government and other regulated industries. Broader use cases, including SaaS, subscriptions and e-commerce, are expected to follow as the scheme develops. Providers including Yapily are already involved in pilots and early access programmes.
How does pre-payment balance verification work?
Before initiating a payment, you can call a fund availability check via the open banking API. If the customer doesn't have sufficient funds, you receive a signal before the payment attempt — letting you send a top-up reminder or delay collection, rather than processing a failed payment and potentially triggering overdraft fees.
Does the customer have to do anything when their usage changes month to month?
No. Once a mandate is set up, your system initiates whatever amount was consumed that cycle, up to the agreed cap. The customer sees the payment in their banking app with full transparency, but doesn't need to approve each collection. They can adjust their mandate limits or cancel at any time via their banking app.