Saturday 12 September 2015

Features Of Utility Bill Software

By Daphne Bowen


All the public utilities share the same objectives which are provision of clean water and energy to the public. Though these services are basic they also remit some revenue which must be accounted for. Like any other business, customer satisfaction is a priority. In modern day the manual systems are being replaced rapidly by automated systems which can read the meters remotely. These automatic systems for reading the meters are preferred to the manual systems because of the risks involved in reading the meters in residential homes where the residents may be hostile. The employees of the company sometimes have to travel through harsh landscape to reach the locations of the households. Utility bill software can be used in big and small cities.

A feature of such a system is that it is possible to establish an audit trail that shows the movement of funds and payments into the company. Corruption cases have been reduced due to this and accounts that are in debt can be easily identified. Another feature is the possibility of communicating directly to the consumers through emails. Consumers are alerted and given notices on payment dates and other important information.

Installing a utility bill program ensures that the customers receive a detailed statement showing their actual usage and the rates used to charge them. This has significantly reduced the amount of complaints lodged by the customers as a result of inaccurate readings if the meters were read manually.

Automation has made it possible for customers to access their bills instantly and hence more time to prepare for the payment. They are able to access all these through specialized online portals. Good automated systems may even have links for websites where the customer can make the payments.

Automated billing system has made handling of meter changes manageable by the utility companies. Some of the customers may change their residential households from time to time thereby prompting the change in meter numbers. Using an automated system allows the utility company to integrate the new and old meter bills into one bill.

An automated system is perfect for summary billing of an account. In the case where a single user is in charge of several other accounts the bills of those accounts can be merged into one. This improves the efficiency in payments. In most cases, installation of an automated system may not require heavy investment in hardware. The software can be installed into the existing hardware in the company therefore no additional costs.

Handling of changes in the accounts of a consumer is made easier by the automated system for billing clients. When the customer changes houses their meter number will also change. The automated system handles these changes and enables the provision of one summary bill of the new and old meter.

It is clear that adoption of a utility billing software can benefit the firm and the consumers. Consumers benefit from timely services and constant access to their accounts while the company benefits from reduced operation costs.




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