Saturday, August 29, 2015

Adopting A Utility Billing Systems That Is Efficient

By Nancy Gardner


Utilities are services consumed by the public and are provided by a public service. Organizations that maintain the infrastructure for the aim of providing a public service are referred to as public functions. These services include water, sewage, natural gas and electricity. Utility billing systems can really reduce labor cost as this system is automated and does not require a lot of manpower.

The existence of a way to automate billing to their clients has saved the utilities costs on having to employ more personnel to read meters which are located in remote and dangerous areas. It has minimized the risk exposure of the company to injuries of its employees and liabilities caused to customers.

Manual meter reading has been used for a long time in most countries. However, there are cases especially in the rural areas where it may be very difficult to access the meter in order to read. This makes manual meter reading time consuming.

service billing technology has various functions which include collecting data on usage of these services and products and based on this data prepare utility bills. For every individual customer, data must be gathered and translated into an amount that is then billed to their esteemed customers. This is a very time consuming process but the iteration enables this process to be automated. The utility can invest in automatic meter reading systems which quicken the process of data collection and avoid the costs which would have rather been incurred if employees were sent to read the meters.

The justification for the automatic meter reading systems are that some meters are located in hazardous areas which pose a risk to the workers of this service company who are sent to read them. Some meters are also located in areas which are hard to access such as behind locked gates or harsh terrain, this makes manual gauge reading time consuming and costly to this service firm. Inaccurate meter readers also cause disputes with customers which cost time and money to resolve.

Automated billing software specifically tailored for the function is a move towards improving the overall operations. To determine the potential benefits of automated billing software there needs to be a deep understanding of the operating characteristics of the utility. The utility provider should identify aspects of automation that will benefit them.

Collection of revenues and customer payments can be managed by a strong service billing software. After the invoices and bills have been delivered to their clients, the software will offer several options for managing how the user will pay for the services rendered. Utility invoicing software will track all customers with outstanding debts and automatically charge them the penalties for late payments and even print out emails issuing notices to them.

Each time there is a decrease in customer satisfaction, there is an increase in complaints by the customers. If the service has not embraced automated indicator reading and thus provides estimated costs the customers complain even more because they distrust the readings. The service should determine the type of customer calls it could avoid by automating the system.

Customers with multiple locations are also well catered for in this system. The software will enable the utility to setup the multiple locations of this customer as belonging to a single user. Therefore, the customer will receive a summary invoice for all the accounts.




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