ScotiaBank and Banco Popular and Banco SantaCruz only require a letter from your bank stating that you have had an account there in good standing for "____" years, it does not have to be in Spanish, they do not require account numbers, average balances, etc...and a copy of your passport...and your money! You may need references from 2 legal residents of the DR, but I dont remember, but definitely not more than that and they can be anybody with a DR phone number. BP has the highest minimum deposit/balance of the three. THis information is all accurate and current in Sosua/Cabarete (may be different elsewhere).
As for paying your utilities online, Scotia Bank has an 809 phone number to pay your verizon bill, and BP allows you to pay it online. Im pretty sure they no longer allow payment of EdenNorte online and definitely not CableDelNorte. Not sure about water bill or other utilities...are there other utilities??.