Certainly my utility websites (e.g. electric/gas) are a lot more functional and a lot less user hostile, because...those companies would really like it if you paid your bill on time, so at least that workflow is pretty polished.
Your utility websites are customer facing and everything that the user can't do themselves will result in a phone call or a ticket wich will directly drive up cost.
In enterprise it is the opposite. Whatever the costumer cant do themselves requires a ticket. Any ticket or fast ticket response requires support wich increases revenue.
I just had a meeting with someone from IBM last week about API Connect, they admit that their docs suck and are wrong in places. It is typical enterprise software, slow and cumbersome, just as reported by OP.
this make so much sense, but i never thought about it
I ran an Enterprise Apps org for a F500 where IT was purely a cost center and we created crap like this all the time.
Oh gods, the painful flashbacks.
Over in the USA, setting up a bill autopay for a variable amount generally involves a credit card intermediary with a 2-4% rake or a lot of risk to you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_debit#United_Kingdom
Not only does it not cost anything to the payer, the "Direct Debit Guarantee" also protects the payer from mistakes and fraud.
This isn't a new system, it's over 50 years old.
Paying bills shouldn't be a risky or expensive thing to do.