By Daphne Bowen


Services provided by public utilities to the public are commonly termed as utilities. These services include provision of water, gas and garbage collection. Due to the necessity of these services offered by such companies, most governments put regulations on the amount of charges to be paid by consumers. This protects the public from extortion and makes sure that they can afford such vital services. Due to the large number of consumers that the companies have to provide services to, the process of billing can be tedious and complicated. Therefore, the introduction of utility bill software was a welcome advancement. The objective of automated system is to ensure that a proper track of consumption of the products or services is maintained. These companies are expected to provide clean water, gas and energy while protecting their revenue source.

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.

The move form manual system to an automated system can have positive effects on the company and even the customers. On the side of the customers, they can access their accounts any time of the day and get crucial information whereas for the company their management of consumer accounts is greatly improved.

Automated billing systems provide the customer with online portals. Through these portals, the customers are able to easily find information they are looking for. Therefore, the calls made to the call centers of the companies reduce significantly. This means increased customer satisfaction.

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.

When determining the type of automated system to adopt in the operations of the company, the amount of cash flows should be considered. Most of these companies bill their customers monthly or quarterly.

A fully detailed bill is provided to the consumer. The bill may include the usage and the parameters of charging the fees to be levied. These bills being electronic are conveniently sent to the customers through their emails. The customer is satisfied by the detailed bills and hence fewer complaints.




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