Assessing a late fee after the due date serves two purposes for a utility. One is to reimburse the utility for the loss of cash flow, and resulting interest income, because your customer didn’t pay on time. The other is […]
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Utility Billing
I’ve been doing some research into customer portals, primarily for utilities with AMI systems. A customer portal for a utility with an AMI system allows customers to view their usage trends and monitor their hourly usage. However, not all utilities […]
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Recently, during the Q&A session following a speaking engagement, an attendee asked how other utilities handle online applications for service. Specifically, the question was about verifying photo ID, which led to a discussion of the Red Flags Rule. I was […]
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During the Days of Exposure exercise portion of my Improving Revenue Collections for Utilities presentation at a recent speaking engagement, a couple of attendees inquired about the elapsed time between reading meters and mailing bills. This is actually low-hanging fruit […]
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I recently completed a business review for a utility with considerable outstanding unpaid debt. When I asked if they were participating in the state’s debt setoff program, they were not. Let’s look at why that may be a mistake. What […]
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Hopefully, you know that bank drafts are far and away the easiest way to collect payments. If you’re not, the obvious question is, why? (Editorial note: even if you’re already accepting bank drafts, please don’t stop reading now. There will […]
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I’ve reached another milestone! This issue of the Utility Information Pipeline marks the 300th issue, dating back to January, 2011. In late 2010, while driving to a conference with a co-worker, I tossed out an idea I’d been kicking around […]
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Over the course of the past few months, I’ve been conducting the 2023 Utility Fee Survey. This is the fifth Utility Fee Survey dating to 2015, with subsequent fee surveys in 2017, 2019, and 2021. The survey was designed to […]
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Over the course of the past few months, I’ve been conducting the 2023 Utility Fee Survey. This is the fifth Utility Fee Survey dating to 2015, with subsequent fee surveys in 2017, 2019, and 2021. The survey was designed to […]
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Over the course of the past few months, I’ve been conducting the 2023 Utility Fee Survey. This is the fifth Utility Fee Survey dating to 2015, with subsequent fee surveys in 2017, 2019, and 2021. The survey was designed to […]
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