The Leading Software Platform for Billing and Customer Care in

The Leading Software Platform for Billing and
Customer Care in Competitive Retail Power/Gas Markets
Whether you supply energy to C&I or mass-market customers, managing the customer
revenue cycle can take a big bite out of your bottom line. That’s why more of today’s
leading retail marketers choose Excelergy® as their billing and customer care solution.
Excelergy offers a comprehensive platform for fast, efficient customer acquisition, care and
structured pricing – with a versatile billing engine that can handle your most challenging
mass market requirements to your most complex interval billing for C&I customers. Full
integration of all applications provides straight-through processing for superior accuracy,
auditing and compliance. And Excelergy’s financial strength and customer-centric focus
mean we will be there to help you achieve both short-term goals and long-term success!
1.781.372.5000
info@excelergy.com
www.excelergy.com
50 EnergyBiz magazine March/April 2006
ONLINE AT THE
ENERGY CENTRAL
TOPIC CENTER
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8
billing &
customer
care
billing and customer care
Sponsored Exclusively by MasterCard International
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 51
2.77
Oracle Database
Ease of Interface to Mobile
Workforce Management
3.32
Ease of Interface to
ERP/Financial Systems
3.77
Ease of Interface to GIS
BEYOND CIS
2.95
Ease of Interface to OMS
3.09
UNIX-Based
2.5
Sales Approach
2.5
Price
3.73
Technology
the future of customer information
3.73
Marketshare
3.09
Size, Financial Stability
By Mike Smith
3.55
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Tracking an overnight package is a technical marvel.
Source: Causey CIS/CRM Report, 2005
The figure below provides an insight into how these numerous inteAny one of the three major overnight shipping companies can quickly grations stack up in the minds of utility managers.
and accurately tell you where the package is, when it was delivered,
IOU CIS integrations to other systems
and who signed for it. Talk about leveraging information technology
70%
for improved customer service—these guys have nailed it.
62%
60%
This glaring example of how integrated technologies are deployed
57%
to run a business and make quantum leaps ahead in customer service
50%
are living, breathing proof that it can be done. It is encouraging to see
43%
43%
43%
41%
40%
38%
35%
that many utilities are also moving along this track.
30%
At the heart of this discussion is the use of Customer Information
20%
Systems, particularly as CIS is deployed and integrated with other
applications that can improve customer service, effectiveness and
10%
efficiency of utility crews, and ultimately the bottom line.
0%
The Drive to Update
ERP
Now that Y2K is a memory and the subject of an occasional IT professional’s joke, what is driving utilities to upgrade and replace their CIS?
The chart below provides some insight into this question.
IOU CIS Selection Criteria
Web-Enabled
3.91
Service Orders
Ease of Interface to Mobile
Workforce Management
3.32
Ease of Interface to
ERP/Financial Systems
3.77
Ease of Interface to GIS
2.95
Ease of Interface to OMS
3.09
UNIX-Based
2.5
Sales Approach
2.5
Price
3.73
Technology
3.73
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
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Marketshare
70%
3.09
Size, Financial Stability
3.55
0
43%
ERP
Source: Causey CIS/CRM Report, 2005
3.68
2.77
Oracle Database
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Utility management does not view CIS as a static system, but one
that is interfaced to ERP/EAM systems and needs to be Web-enabled.
CIS plays a pivotal role in utilities’ efforts to make continuous operIOU
CIScustomer,
integrations
to other
systems For instance, utility
ational,
and financial
improvements.
managers indicate that their CIS is interfaced to as many as 200 other
62%
systems, with an average of 32 interfaces
to the CIS across the entire
57%
survey group. This is difficult to manage. Different data formats, organizational
priorities,
and a myriad of other considerations can compli43%
43%
41%
38%
cate such an intertwining of applications and data.35%
This is another data
point telling us that the world of CIS is dynamic, with plenty of opportunities for change and improvement in how to deploy this technology.
Mobile
GIS
AMR
Customer Outage
SelfMgmt.
Serve
52 EnergyBiz magazine March/April
2006
Ext.
WMS
Other
Web
Sys.
Mobile
GIS
AMR
Customer Outage
SelfMgmt.
Serve
Ext.
WMS
Other
Web
Sys.
Notably, the top two responses among investor-owned utilities—
by a wide margin—deal directly with customer service issues, but can
also greatly impact
efficiencies and
financial performance.
Is Information
Strategic?
So, if one accepts that the CIS has evolved beyond being the utility’s
“cash register” to being an important piece of an integrated or enterprise solution, it is worth exploring how
and why this is so important.
No Seat
31.4%
Seat at the
Table
Looking at utility perspectives
with the broader set of solution
68.6%
Looking Beyond the Cash Register
providers beyond the traditional CIS boundaries provides some excellent insights into how the CIS market is evolving into an integrated
solution as opposed to a stand-alone solution.
Ron Brumback, chief executive officer of 4Datalink, of Acton,
Mass., is in a position to provide the insights of an integrated solutions provider about the role of CIS in the utility enterprise. Brumback
commented that in the projects that they are undertaking, and in
the RFPs that they are seeing, the CIS and other systems are “typically owned and managed by their individual departments creating
multiple non-integrated data silos, but the CIS integration presents
a significant opportunity for customer service and operating performance improvement.”
Brumback cited just a few of the many examples as to why utilities
are taking a more aggressive posture towards integrated solutions:
» Service point management assures consistency between
network model and CIS service points and meter information.
The model will feed CIS with the correct connected substation,
feeder and transformer information for each customer (and the
corresponding as-built changes when needed).
4.5
62%
60%
57%
50%
40%
43%
43%
43%
41%
ERP
Mobile
GIS
AMR
38%
35%
30%
20%
10%
0%
» Billing cycles and meter reading cycles are easier to optimize
taking into account the customer location.
As utilities continue to integrate systems, applications, and data
across the enterprise, tangible results are becoming more of the norm,
enabling utilities to more readily demonstrate positive cost-benefit
analyses to get the “green light” on integrated solutions.
Enterprise workforce management solution provider Mobile Data
Solutions Inc. (MDSI), in Richmond, British Columbia, cites some metrics
that demonstrate the value of integrated solutions in general, and in
the mobile area in particular.
According to MDSI’s experience in working with its 100+ customers,
the benefits of integrated solutions have resulted in numerous cost
savings and improvements, including back office operational cost
savings for some functional areas of up to 90 percent, technician
efficiency improvements of 10 to 20 percent, vehicle mileage savings
of half a mile or more per service call, and reduced response time
to emergencies.
In an even more graphic demonstration of the benefits of the
integrated solution, MDSI management cites the collections group of
Memphis Light Gas & Water, which saw an annual benefit of more than
$4 million annually from reduced write-offs that resulted when the
company automated the scheduling of collections orders.
Another indicator of the direction of integrated solutions that
include CIS is how utilities are writing RFPs. Integrated solution provider
SPL WorldGroup, in San Francisco, says that the number of RFPs that
include multi-product solutions is up considerably from previous
years. Guerry Waters, senior vice president of product management at
SPL, points out that “there are also a growing number of utilities that
are implementing more than one solution in a shorter period of time
as data and computing platforms become more standardized, thus
enabling more integrated solutions.”
The View From the Executive Suite
Taking this concept of integrated solutions one step further, it is worth
exploring if utility executives see the value of investing in CIS and integrated solutions. This is a potentially important distinction, for while
mid-level utility managers supervise the projects and the systems,
having an “audience” and a “sponsor” in the executive suite is key in
being able to demonstrate and execute the value of implementing an
integrated solution.
Is Information Strategic?
No Seat
31.4%
Seat at the
Table
68.6%
Source: Causey CIO Report, 2005
This elevates the role of IT from being a function that is asking for
funding, to being one that is contributing to the strategic success of
the business of the utility. This in turn enables an executive view of CIS
as being more of a critical piece of the integrated solution than being
the stand-alone “cash register.”
Waters at SPL WorldGroup puts it this way, “We are not only seeing
utility executives buying into an integrated solution, but in many cases
they are leading initiatives towards them.”
In another example, the CIO of an investor-owned energy company,
one of MDSI’s customers, values its mobile workforce management
system, which is interfaced to multiple applications, as one of the top
five enablers to the success of the company.
CIS continues to be an area of utility operations that can be expensive and difficult to implement and manage. The value of the customer
information goes beyond the bill when it is interfaced or integrated
with other systems across the enterprise. In light of this, many utility
managers and executives are seeing the value of CIS as a critical piece
of their overall integrated solution that can have significant impacts
on customer service, operating efficiencies, regulatory compliance,
and bottom-line performance. And as the successes with integrated
solutions continue to be more commonplace, thinking, planning, and
implementing “beyond CIS” will likewise become more commonplace.
Mike Smith is senior vice president of Sierra Energy Group,
a division on Energy Central.
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 53
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» Address management allows addresses to be validated against
the model (using the geographic information) before being
entered in the CIS.
Customer Outage
Ext.
Other
SelfMgmt.
WMS
Web
Utility CIOs are becoming a more important
Serve part of the machinerySys.
that drives a utility’s strategy. More than two-thirds of utility CIOs
now have the all-important “seat at the table” with the rest of the
utility senior management team.
Salt River Project
Embraces Customers
view from the trenches
Utilities universally agree that caring for customers is
a priority. Execution, however, varies by company. Salt River Project,
based in Phoenix, has been given high marks in customer satisfaction by
J.D. Power and Associates. The information services firm, in a 2005 press
release, stated, “For the sixth time in seven years, Salt River Project ranks
highest in the Western Region. Salt River receives the highest ratings in
the region in every component.” EnergyBiz contacted Mike Lowe, SRP
customer services executive, to discuss how the utility scrutinizes its
work processes to upgrade its service to its 860,000 customers. Below,
he answers our questions.
What improvements in billing and customer care
are priorities?
We are pursuing several major thrusts:
» Security of sensitive customer information. We are reviewing
our manual and automated systems to ensure the safe storage
and transmission of sensitive customer data, and we are taking
steps to eliminate the capture of sensitive information in the
first instance unless it is absolutely essential. We do not want
to jeopardize customer trust.
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» Smart meters. Starting this year, we intend to deploy 100,000
smart meters a year to permit daily capture and transmission
to SRP of customer energy consumption by on- and off-peak
periods. Many of the meters will be equipped with remote
disconnect switches, and a significant number of the meters
will be capable of remote reconfiguration between credit billing
and prepayment modes.
Technology has evolved rapidly to the point where smart meters
make sense economically. For every 100,000 smart meters
deployed, we will reduce our staffing requirements by 17 FTE. However, the more compelling reasons for smart meters are the
following four service improvements, which will result from the
timely and accurate reading of meters:
54 EnergyBiz magazine March/April 2006
1. Even through high-activity periods or employee illnesses,
orders will be worked on the date promised.
2. Automated meter reads eliminate accidental wrapped
reads, which result in questionable bills. Automated meter
reads allow us to offer time-of-use tariffs to customers for
whom we currently deny this offering due to the restricted
locations of their meters. (Current time-of-use meters cannot
be read from a distance but, rather, must be physically probed.)
3. Daily two-way communication to the smart meter supports
the ability to offer critical peak pricing, affording customers
with yet another mechanism to control their electric bills and
affording SRP another mechanism to manage peak loads and
resulting costs.
4. Daily capture of a customer’s energy consumption
supports a host of new Web services to enable customers to
make better-informed decisions regarding their energy use.
» Credit card billing. Historically, the electric utility industry has
resisted direct acceptance of credit cards, due to the merchant
fees involved. SRP is no exception. In lieu of credit card acceptance, we have actively promoted direct debit. Today, more
than 16 percent of SRP customers participate in this program,
which we call SurePay. However, our research suggests that
direct debit appeals to baby boomers and seniors, while direct
billing to credit cards has greater appeal to Generations X and
Y. To enhance customer satisfaction, particularly among the
younger generations, SRP will be implementing direct billing to
Visa credit cards this year—without surcharge to customers.
What are the primary obstacles to those
improvements—fiscal or technical?
There is virtually no change in business process that can be implemented with respect to customer service that doesn’t require technical support. Customer information systems, particularly billing
engines, are complex. The mind-numbing detail involved in weaving
new services into the existing business cloth makes changes to these
systems expensive. Expense is the primary obstacle for us.
What is your main concern
regarding vendors providing you
with billing and customer care
products?
e have two substantive concerns with
W
many vendors:
» Will the vendor provide the level of
product quality and customer service
to us that we need to in turn provide to
our customers?
» How can we sustain a high level of
service to our customers in the event
the vendor discontinues a needed
product or otherwise evolves the
product in a direction that does not
support our needs?
In many instances, we elect to develop our
own software so we maintain maximum
control over service levels to our customers.
What is your vision for billing and
customer care at your company
five to 10 years out?
More than five years ago, I crafted a relatively simple, but powerful, vision for Customer
Services at SRP: We generate customer and
community satisfaction with SRP through
innovative and cost-effective customer
services delivered in a consistent and timely
manner. Customers find doing business with
us to be rewarding, easy, and pleasant.
We live this vision at every staff meeting.
We scrub our work processes for simplicity
and customer acceptability. We continually scan the marketplace for new services
and technologies that allow us to do things
better, faster, and at lower cost. Each month
we review formal customer research, both
transactional and strategic in nature, for
insights into the customer’s wants, needs,
and desires. And, most importantly, we ask
ourselves “why not” instead of “why,” which
increases our receptivity to new ideas.
Over the next ten years, I anticipate a host
of new technology-enabled services that
allow highly personalized levels of service
to each of our significant market segments.
Customers will have real-time access to
their energy consumption, a host of tools to
manage that consumption, and a wide array
of mechanisms to pay for that consumption.
on topic
Billing and Customer Care articles
from EnergyPulse
To view any of these articles, please go to
www.energycentral.com/quicklink and type the
quick link code (
) into the quick link box.
EBPP: The Time is Now
Kerry LeCrone, Docucorp International
P1154
Utilities Spending Big on Systems
Warren Causey, Energy Central
P1182
EBPP: Key for Companies
Christine Kozlosky, Ascent Group
P1134
Billing & Query Management
Rajiv Agrawal, Wipro Technologies
P1133
Consistency Key to Customer Service
David Saxby, Measure-X
P1100
indiana gas pushes customer
awareness Eric Boothe
Are you satisfied with your utility’s current
capabilities in billing and customer care?
Yes.
What improvements in billing and
customer care are priorities?
Our priorities are to provide more electronic
(Web-based) programs/payment plans/self
help opportunities for external customers;
better and more utility-initiated communications with external customers; written
communication as a response to a customer
initiating service for the first time and enrolling
on a plan, and customer awareness of the
billing/payment plan offerings available.
What are the primary obstacles to those
improvements—fiscal or technical?
A little of both, but the obstacles are primarily the
internal technical resource availability to work on
billing/customer care related objectives.
What is your main concern regarding vendors
providing you with billing and customer care
products?
If this means providing literature of product
offerings, I welcome it. If it means vendor
calls—in person or telephonically—I am not as
receptive to this type of contact if there are no
current or near-term plans to initiate changes to
our billing system.
What is your vision for billing and
customer care at your company five to 10
years out?
I would anticipate more electronic billing (EBPP)
and electronic communication (e-mail, IM, or
chat) and less paper-oriented bill processing.
Eric Boothe is Citizens Gas manager of customer
billing services in Indianapolis.
Billing Initiatives
Dennis Smith, Chartwell
P1112
E-Payments and AMR
Gail Moser, BillMatrix
P1077
Advantages of Electronic Payments
Kent Stuckey and Jim Crossley,
Internet Transaction Solutions
P1071
Control of Customer Communications
Davis Marksbury, Exstream Software
P1007
Consolidate with Utility Specific ERP
Kristian Steenstrup, Gartner
P895
The Power in Your Call Center
Barbara Burke, Barbara Burke & Associates
P754
Customer Management Tools
Jerome Simeon, Capgemini
P739
New Value From Old CIS
Brian Erickson, Hitachi Consulting
P873
Bilingual CIS
Angelo Pasquale, Optiron Corp.
P747
Billing in Deregulated Markets
Arthur Pearson, Energy Services Group
P740
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 55
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Up-front capital costs for smart meters
also necessitate a more surgical implementation to moderate capital costs. Likewise,
the several layers of merchant fees for credit
cards make credit card payment substantially
more expensive than almost any other form
of payment except in-person payments at a
customer service window.
[case study]
Great River Energy Case Study: Cooperation,
Commitment and the Right Tool for Complex Billing
Great River Energy (GRE), of Elk River, Minn., is a generation and
transmission rural electric cooperative formed in 1999 when two
Midwest cooperatives consolidated operations. GRE provides
electrical energy and services to 28 distribution cooperatives in
Minnesota and Wisconsin, serving nearly 600,000 customers.
GRE’s complex billing system calculated monthly invoices, but
the monthly billing process was extremely time-intensive and inefficient. Interval meter data had to be imported and exported to the
billing system, a separate application was written to view and print
the invoices, e-mail distribution of the invoices was manual, and
another third-party application was used to meet all the reporting
requirements. It took about eight workdays each month to generate and distribute 46 invoices.
When GRE decided to use MV-90, Itron’s meter data communications and management system, to manage all of its interval meter
data, it took the opportunity to evaluate its complete monthly billing
process. After extensive research, GRE selected Itron’s MV-PBS
Express, a complex billing solution that interfaces directly to MV-90.
Solution
56 EnergyBiz magazine March/April 2006
On Aug. 1, 2003 the first production invoices were generated.
Four business days later, all invoices were complete — cutting the
time spent on the billing process in half. In January of 2006, that
process was trimmed to only one day to complete the invoices.
“From a management perspective, the project accomplished its
objective,” said Doug Paumen, GRE’s Manager of Financial Services. “We knew we needed to streamline the process and provide
more timely information to the board and management. We were
successful in both areas and the fact that the team completed the
initial installations ahead of schedule was outstanding.”
There are many reasons why the GRE implementation of MVPBS went so well. The individuals on the team had the required
skill sets and the determination. GRE management committed the
appropriate resources and made the implementation a priority.
GRE’s member cooperatives were informed and involved. Finally,
GRE understood their complex billing needs and selected a product that met those needs.
Last year, GRE changed its member rate structure and its
current rate components. GRE has established base rates and
growth rates for each cooperative. With the new billing system in
place, GRE is ready for the next challenge.
“We were successful in
both areas and the fact
that the team completed
the initial installations
ahead of schedule was
outstanding.”
For more information, contact Matt Owens at
510.844.2845 or matt.owens@itron.com.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Successfully modeling a complex rate is one of the most difficult
exercises in complex billing. MV-PBS differs from many complex
billing solutions because its scripting language was designed
to allow billing analysts to create and modify rates without help
from developers. Allowing billing analysts to model their own rates
eliminates one of the most difficult steps in the process, translating the billing analyst’s knowledge of the complex rate structure
into program specifications.
The rate chosen to be part of GRE’s training was the rate used to
bill all member cooperatives, plus two of the many riders to the rate.
The member’s rate structure defines energy, demand, transmission,
ancillary service and previous month’s power cost adjustment charges.
It also involves seasonal demand and both energy and demand load
management credits. It is a GRE philosophy that everyone involved in
a process should understand it from beginning to end.
The standard implementation process for MV-PBS Express
includes several weeks of training. Basic training began in March
of 2003, and went so well that the instructor was able to move on
to more complex rate modeling concepts early. By the end of the
second week of training the class was discussing (and creating)
more complex riders and additional functionality.
Doralisa Eatherton, the accounting specialist responsible for
configuring and scripting the rates and performing the user testing, was willing to commit to completing all the rates within three
months. As it turned out, she was able to complete the scripting
and initial testing of the rates by the middle of May. “I absolutely
love the system,” she said. “I didn’t spend as much time as I was
thinking I’d have to on the script.”
GRE’s implementation plan required two months of parallel testing, so the invoices for May and June were run in the existing system
and in MV-PBS. The new invoices were shared with GRE’s member
co-ops to gather their input before MV-PBS went into production.
Results
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine Powering-Up
the Bottom
Line with
Payment Cards
A Thought Leadership Commentary from
MasterCard International
Payment card acceptance for customer bill payment not
only allows utilities to increase customer satisfaction by
expanding bill payment options, but also allows utilities to
improve bottom line results by reducing costs in several
areas of the revenue cycle, including bill rendering and
collection processes.
The 2005/2006 Study of Consumer Payment Preferences
conducted by the American Bankers Association and Dove
Consulting, and sponsored in part by MasterCard International,
shows that consumers are increasingly embracing and
demonstrating a preference for electronic payments. The trend
in consumer preference for electronic payment options has
allowed utilities to capitalize on electronic bill presentment
(e-bill) as an efficient way to 1) reduce costs associated with
rendering paper bills by facilitating the adoption of e-bill and
2) promote recurring/auto payment programs.
Turn the page for more information and to see how credit
and debit card acceptance to pay utility bills can shorten the
path to payment and power up the bottom line.
For more information about MasterCard International and
the programs available for the Utilities Industry, visit
www.mastercardmerchant.com/utilities/ebp, or send an
e-mail to utilities@mastercard.com.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP — SPONSORED BY MASTERCARD International
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 57
58 EnergyBiz magazine March/April 2006
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP — SPONSORED BY MASTERCARD International
(over)
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP — SPONSORED BY MASTERCARD International
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 59
Payment Cards
Offer Many Benefits
to Utilities and Customers
Utilities have traditionally accepted credit and debit
cards for payment through third-party processors. Now
those utilities are reevaluating that business model
and are beginning to bring these payments in-house.
There are two good reasons for this shift—customer
satisfaction and an improved bottom line.
As utilities begin to further evaluate and embrace the
use of credit and debit cards in their payment mix,
tangible benefits are being identified for both the
utility and its customers. Utility benefits include:
• improved customer service leading to increased
customer satisfaction
• reduced mail float
• improved days sales outstanding (DSOs)
• reduced manual processing for exceptions
• enhanced e-Bill adoption
• the ability to offer a convenient recurring
payments option
Many of these benefits tie into and support a utility’s
strategy of servicing more customers through self-service
channels and delivering options that increase customer
satisfaction. According to Warren Causey, vice president
of Sierra Energy Group,“Utilities are continually looking
for ways to improve customer satisfaction. Providing
additional choice to the customer by expanding payment
options to include acceptance of credit and debit cards is
another step in the right direction.”
From the customer’s perspective, the benefits include
having choice in how they make their monthly payments,
the added convenience associated with using payment
cards, and, for those customers with rewards cards, the
ability to earn rewards in eligible loyalty programs.
There are costs inherent in every payment method—some
obvious, some not as obvious. When following a utility’s
typical revenue cycle, there are points along the way where
payment card acceptance in lieu of cash and checks can
reduce some of the cost assumed by the utility.
The Typical Revenue Cycle
Utility customers are invoiced either by paper bills or
electronically. If a utility is migrating to a paperless bill,
then accepting an electronic form of payment is key to
leveraging the potential savings, since payment card
acceptance is likely to increase adoption of EBPP
(electronic bill presentment and payment). When the
customer receives the bill, they can typically make
payment in one of three ways: payment card, cash,
or check.
Payment Cards
Funds received via credit or debit card can be posted
to the utility almost immediately. Payment cards
ensure guaranteed, secure payment; improve cash
flow, and speed revenue recognition. Accepting cards
can be an instrument for resolving some payment or
check-related issues by enabling customer service and
field service personnel to accept credit and debit cards
for bill payment in the appropriate circumstances.
Payment cards can also facilitate a recurring payments
program which can be a valuable tool to help utilities
increase customer satisfaction. It provides many benefits
to customers, including convenience, stress relief
knowing that bills will be paid on time, and savings
on postage and late fees. MasterCard International
recently sponsored research* to better understand U.S.
consumers’ attitudes, behavior, and decision criteria
regarding payment methods for recurring bills. The
research shows that consumers are increasingly using
payment cards (credit and debit) for automatic bill
payment and feel particularly comfortable using them
for fixed bill amounts like average pay programs.
Additionally, to help utilities maximize and maintain this
growth opportunity, MasterCard offers the Automatic
Billing Updater service. The Updater filters critical data
(for example, new expiration dates) from participating
issuers to registered utilities through the utility’s
acquiring bank.
Cash
Cash can be accepted (for delinquent accounts or
construction charges, for example) at approved
locations (i.e., “district offices”) that are staffed and
secured, and that presents another set of touch points.
Many utilities have enhanced their cash handling
procedures to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. Apart from
district offices, other payment agency locations require
contracts that come with added cost and may require
additional quality controls.
Checks
Payment by check has traditionally been the most
prevalent method of payment for utility customers
(the lockbox). It can be cost effective for the utility if the
process goes smoothly. Even in the best-case scenario,
though, it takes several days for the funds to be
credited to the customer’s account.
Often, however, there are several issues that could
arise during the check-processing route. These
“detours” off the path to payment must be corrected
in order for funds to be posted to the utility. The time
and talent needed to resolve the issues often result in
higher than perceived transaction costs to the utility.
Let’s take a closer look.
Why Checks Could Cost More
• White Paper can happen as soon as your bank
opens the envelope, adversely affecting the ultimate
cost of processing.
• Life after batch processing. Posting errors, payment
errors, incorrect account number transcription, and
allocation to suspense accounts all must be corrected
and reconciled if the utility is to receive payment. Often
these errors require referral to the utility’s billing group
or direct involvement from accounting or other
departments. This adds time and more cost in the form
of labor, delayed payment postings, and increased
DSOs. Additionally, if a payment is not posted
correctly, the utility’s normal IT processes are triggered
and a good paying customer may inadvertently be
sent a delinquent notice. This scenario results in extra
paper and postage from you; and your customer may
place a call to Customer Service (i.e., the call center) in
order to correct the error.
• Getting the check is just the beginning. What
happens when it is returned for non-sufficient funds
(NSF)? The check now incurs further delays and
potential increases in transaction costs. Collecting NSF
checks can default to a utility’s communication
processes and must be handled by either in-house or
outsourced collections groups at additional expense.
By accepting a credit or debit card at this juncture,
however, the utility can expedite payment.
• Collections/Field Services. In serious delinquency
cases, utilities often have to send a technician to turn
off the customer’s service. Depending upon the utility,
workers may not be allowed to accept checks or cash
in the field. However, if they are enabled to accept
payment cards (facilitated by wireless card acceptance
terminals), then the utility enjoys additional benefits.
Revenue is received more rapidly, further processes
are avoided, and another trip to the field can be
eliminated—the one to turn service back on.
Power-up Your Bottom Line
Both customers and utilities are winners when payment
cards are accepted and used. The consumer enjoys both
the convenience and speed of using a credit or debit
card for payment and the security of knowing the bill
has been paid on time. The utility wins by improving
efficiencies in its internal processing of payments, and
customer satisfaction may increase as well. More rapid
and secure cash flow also offers tremendous benefits
to a utility that often bills and processes millions of
statements each year.
Consider the absolute cost of cash and checks when
evaluating whether payment cards have a place within
your utility’s revenue cycle. Although there are costs
associated with payment card transactions as well,
these costs can often be partially or fully absorbed when
evaluated within the context of the benefits that direct
card acceptance can provide. It’s time utilities explore
how the addition of credit and debit cards can fit into
the payment mix they offer to their customers.
For more information about MasterCard International
and the programs available for the Utility industry,
visit www.mastercardmerchant.com/utilities/ebp or
send an e-mail to utilities@mastercard.com.
*MasterCard Recurring Payments 2005–Consumer Awareness,
Behavior & Attitude Research
©2006 MasterCard International Incorporated
60 EnergyBiz magazine March/April 2006
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP — SPONSORED BY MASTERCARD International
Billing & Customer Care
SOURCEBOOK
ProCore Solutions
Listing Categories
management/credit & collections
Page 61
call centers/customer service
Page 61
CIS /CRM Syste ms & I nteg r ation
Page 61
consu lti ng
Page 65
Custom e r Car e / B i lli ng & B i ll Paym e nt
Page 65
CustomerLink
One East First Street, Suite 300
Duluth, MN 55802
(800) 722-2808
www.customerlinkone.com
IEI Financial Services
2485 Directors Row
Indianapolis, IN 46241
(770) 350-9869
www.ieifs.com
NCO Financial Systems
507 Prudential Road
Horsham, PA 19044
(800) 220-2274
www.ncogroup.com
Total Solution, Inc.
12843 Muirfield Boulevard South
Jacksonville, FL 32225
(866) 737-5328
www.totalsolutioninc.com
services, energy, healthcare, insurance, and
communications sectors. The company delivers
a full suite of CRM solutions including: Inbound /
Outbound, Customer Care, Sales / Telemarketing,
Data Processing, Surveys / Market Research, and
Electronic / web based CRM (eCRM).
Our reputation has been built on five key
commitments to our clients: exceptional quality,
superior people, responsiveness / flexibility,
constant improvement and value creation.
Our proven record as a trusted and innovative
strategic partner illustrates our Team’s core commitment to our clients and their customers. The
unique combination of Management experience,
motivated Telephone Associates, continuing Training and Development, and Innovative Technology
allows CCC Interactive to be one of the most cost
effective, efficient, and results-oriented solutions
available today.
Our custom solutions and experienced staff
provide the highest QUALITY and SERVICE,
maximizing the effectiveness of our clients’ customer relationship programs.
Envision Utility Software Corp.
See complete listing on page 65
ER Solutions
Call Ce nte rs/Custom e r Se rvice
219 Perimeter Center Parkway NE
Atlanta, GA 30346
(770) 604-4382
www.e-r-solutions.com
NCO Customer Management Inc.
507 Prudential Road
Horsham, PA 19044
(800) 220-2274
www.ncogroup.com
CCC Interactive Corporation
600 Jefferson Street, 4th Floor
Houston, TX 77002
(713) 289-8300
Fax (713) 289-8710
www.cccinteractive.com
Contact
Steven Hamaker, President
(800) 690-4944
CJ Johnson, Sr. Vice President
(800) 395-7195
Nexus Energy Software
16 Laurel Avenue
Wellesley, MA 02481
(781) 694-3300
www.nexusenergy.com
Solutions is a full service call center outsourcing firm, specializing in the utility industry.
We offer a full range of customer care services
24/7/365. Services including after-hours call
handling, overflow call handling, surveys, product
sales and outage notification. Solutions offers a
variety of choices in the types of service, training
and pricing companies can choose from.
SITEL Corporation
7277 World Communications Drive
Omaha, NE 68122
(402) 963-6810
www.sitel.com
SPL WorldGroup See complete lisitng on page 68
Twenty First Century Communications
760 Northlawn Drive
Columbus, OH 43214
(614) 442-1215
www.tfcci.com
CIS/CRM Syste ms & I nteg r ati o n
Advanced Utility Systems Corporation
2235 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M2J 5B5 Canada
(416) 496-0149
www.advancedutility.com
Alliance Data
17655 Waterview Parkway
Dallas, TX 75252
(800) 748-1289
www.alliancedatasystems.com
Cogsdale Corporation
CCC Interactive Corporation is a leading
provider of comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) and eCRM solutions
for Fortune 1000, companies in the financial
14 MacAleer Drive, Suite 5
Charlottetown, PE C1E 2A1 Canada
(800) 533-9690
www.cogsdale.com
StrAtegic UtiLity MAnAgeMent
software solutions...
available stand-alone or as a
pre-integrated application suite
1-800-ASK- 4-SPL
www.splwg.com
Customer Care & Billing
Outage & Distribution Management
Mobile Workforce Management
Enterprise Business Intelligence
Asset & Work Management
Enterprise Information Architecture
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 61
billing and customer care
M
anag e m e nt/Cr e d it & Collec tions
1260 Cobb Parkway North
Marietta, GA 30062
(678) 355-3550
www.procoresolutions.com
Fax (678) 355-3720
Contact
Greg Steel, President/COO
(678) 355-3550
Drew Brown, Director of Marketing &
Communications
(678) 355-3550
Jimmy Stevens, Director of Client Services
(678) 355-3550
Don’t Let Outages Wash Away
Your Customer Service.
ProCore Solutions can resolve this issue with a proven solution! Our
“Suite of Services” strategically aligns 24/7/365 call center support
services to supplement existing call center service departments with
after–hours services; set terms for payment arrangements with
inbound collections services; identify customer satisfaction levels
through our outbound survey program; provide notification and/or
emergency dispatch for electric outage services.
Our services are scalable and we offer variable pricing to fit any
utility’s strategy.
1260 North Cobb Parkway, Marietta, GA 30062; (p) 1-877-626-7356; (f) 678.355.3720
solutions@procoresolutions.com; www.procoresolutions.com
Peace Software
Skipping Stone Inc.
6205 Blue Lagoon Drive
Miami, FL 33126
(305) 341-2400
www.peace.com
15311 West Vantage Parkway, Suite 350
Houston, TX 77032
(281) 902-5104
www.skippingstone.com
Ensite Inc.
SPL WorldGroup See complete lisitng on page 68
billing and customer care
13750 Millard Avenue, Suite 100
Omaha, NE 68137
(888) 895-7884
Fax (402) 898-2120
www.ensite.com
Contact
Rod Bates, President
(888) 895-7884
Jarel Jensen, VP, Information Technology
(888) 895-7884
EnSite Safari Suite® is a proven, “full-life cycle
management” software solution for energy companies and service providers. The CIS, Billing,
and Gas Management platform is designed for
growth by providing a fully integrated, scaleable
solution for increased operational efficiency and
flexibility. Talk with us today about how EnSite
Safari Suite® can become your competitive advantage to enhance customer loyalty, capture new
customers, and conquer multi-cycle and multicommodity billing. Call us at 888-895-7884.
Itron See complete lisitng on page 67
SAP Americas
Soluziona
3999 West Chester Pike
Newtown Square, PA 19073
(610) 661-1000
Fax (610) 661-8868
www.sap.com/utilities
Contact
Henry Bailey
henry.bailey@sap.com
SAP for Utilities is a set of state-of-the-art
software solutions for utilities worldwide. The
integrated, highly reliable, and scalable solutions
enable the end-to-end management of business
processes because they are built on the open
architecture of the SAP NetWeaver™ platform.
Today, in 70 countries around the globe, more
than 950 leading electricity, gas, water, and
municipality utilities in regulated, transitioning, and
deregulated markets rely on SAP for Utilities.
1400 North Providence Road, Suite 4005
Rose Tree Corporate Center II
Media, PA 19063
(610) 892-8920
www.soluziona.com
Contact
Gabriel Machado, VP Utilities Practice
(610) 892-8920
Steve Stillman, Director, EAM Systems
(610) 892-8920
Soluziona offers comprehensive, added value
information technology systems and solutions
in customer care and billing, enterprise asset
management, network operations and business
intelligence, specifically tailored for electric, gas
and water companies. Our Customer Care and
Billing system is a proven, state-of-the-art solution
with close to 80 clients in 5 continents,
StrAtegic UtiLity MAnAgeMent
software solutions...
available stand-alone or as a
pre-integrated application suite
1-800-ASK- 4-SPL
62 EnergyBiz magazine March/April 2006
www.splwg.com
Customer Care & Billing
Outage & Distribution Management
Mobile Workforce Management
Enterprise Business Intelligence
Asset & Work Management
Enterprise Information Architecture
Are you drowning in a rising sea of meter data?
LODESTAR has a lifesaver for your
energy business. Our powerful, highly-scalable
meter data management (MDM) solution is proven
to meet the growing performance requirements of
even the largest-scale MDM efforts— including specific
response initiatives like dynamic and critical peak pricing.
Built on over 27 years of energy industry experience,
the LODESTAR MDM solution and all our products use the
same underlying software platform so it’s also easy to
expand into pricing, billing, settlement, forecasting and
other areas at a much lower cost.
Call us to find out more, or visit
www.lodestarcorp.com and listen to
our latest MDM Webcast.
LODESTAR®
Customer Choice Suite™
Software
LOAD PROFILING
SETTLEMENTS
PRICING
FORECASTING
BILLING
METER DATA MANAGEMENT
LOAD RESEARCH
RATE ANALYSIS
TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
COLLECTIONS
E N E R G Y
S O F T W A R E
North America 800.925.8272
S O L U T I O N S
Europe 44.17.3785.2266
www.lodestarcorp.com
Australia 61.3.3839.17000
More than 175 electric, gas, water and services
companies worldwide trust SPL solutions.
You’re big.
The Americas
+1 800 ASK 4 SPL
You’re small.
Europe, Middle East & Africa
+33(0)1 4445 6600
You’re a co-op.
You’re an energy retailer.
You need to please the city council.
Asia Pacific
+61 2 8258 8200
www.splwg.com
You need to please your investors.
You need just one software application to solve a pressing problem.
You need multiple, integrated applications to get your business moving.
Contact us today to find out how SPL can help your utility
lower risk, reduce costs and improve performance.
Customer Care & Billing | Outage & Distribution Management | Mobile Workforce Management | Business Intelligence | Asset & Work Management | Enterprise Information Architecture
(Soluziona continued)
whose more than 65 million customers are being
billed every month using our powerful Enterprise
Class Application based on J2EE standards and
Open Source technology. Soluziona: commitment
and results.
Dynamic Energy Systems
Docucorp International
740 Springdale Drive, Suite 208
Exton, PA 19341
(610) 363-8503
www.des-ems.com
5400 LBJ Freeway, Suite 300
Dallas, TX 75240
(800) 735-6620
www.docucorp.com
Donald R. Frey & Company Inc.
Viecore Inc.
40 North Grand Avenue, Suite 303
Fort Thomas, KY 41075
(859) 441-6566
www.drfrey.com
1111 Macarthur Boulevard, Suite 100
Mahwah, NJ 07430
(201) 252-9100
www.viecore.com
TMG Consulting
Accenture
180 Fountain Parkway
St. Petersburg, FL 33716
(727) 897-7100
www.accenture.com/utilities6
Bass & Company
7815 Calverton Square
New Albany, OH 43054
(908) 242-4584
www.bassandcompany.com
Capgemini
750 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10017
(212) 314-8000
Fax (212) 314-8016
www.us.capgemini.com/energy
Contact
Amin Bishara, Utility Sales Leader
(972) 556-7189
Mark Fronmuller, Utility Consulting/
Technology Leader
(214) 812-3241
Michel Gevry, NA Utilities Practice Leader
(514) 395-3747
Capgemini is the leading consulting firm to
the power distribution industry, with more than
10,000 employees working daily in the field and
more than 4 million meters under management.
Capgemini brings world-leading expertise in
utility strategy, business process, integration and
deployment. In the emerging area of transformational outsourcing, Capgemini has no peer in
serving the North American utility industry. With
total contract value of more than $5 billion with
TXU, Hydro One, OPG and Bruce Power, our IT
and business process outsourcing track record is
second to none.
Deloitte Consulting LLC
127 Public Sqaure, Suite 3300
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 589-1300
www.deloitte.com/us
Ensite, Inc. See complete lisitng on page 61
9210 Honeycomb Drive
Austin, TX 78737
(512) 288-2655
Fax (512) 288-2622
www.tmgconsulting.com
Contact
Greg Galluzzi, President
(512) 288-2655
Envision Utility Software Corporation
TMG Consulting is a an independent information technology consulting firm. Our services
include analysis, planning, selection, and implementation of customer focused information technology tools. We offer comprehensive knowledge
of all products and solutions available including
outsourced, co-sourced and in-house offerings.
155 customers across 277 projects have utilized
TMG Consulting based on our independence,
experience and commitment. Our practice areas
include: studies and workshops, strategic planning, product evaluation and selection, and quality
management and project management assistance.
Customer Care/Billing & Bill Payment
Advance Business Graphics
3810 Wabash Drive
Mira Loma, CA 91752
(877) 224-6584
www.abgraphics.com
900 Bugg Lane, Suite 110C
San Marcos, TX 78666
(512) 353-6000
Fax (512) 392-5428
www.envworld.com
Contact
Jason Ervin, Marketing Manager
(512) 353-6016
Ken Baca, Senior Product Analyst
(505) 819-4200
Envision Utility Software provides a comprehensive customer information and billing system to
the utility marketplace. Envision’s foCIS CIS/Billing software application is an Oracle-based system that supports multi-cycle, multi-service billing
for both metered and non-metered services. Built
on open systems architecture, the software is
scalable and can interface with a variety of enterprise applications. Call us for more information
on how foCIS can improve your customer service
and billing initiatives.
BillMatrix Corporation
8750 North Central Expressway, 20th Floor
Dallas, TX 75231
(800) 596-0221
www.billmatrix.com
ComTec Inc.
6 Just Road
Fairfield, NJ 07004
(952) 826-0777
www.comtecnet.com
Creative Microsystems Inc. (CMI)
52 Hillside Court
Englewood, OH 45322
(800) 686-9313
www.civicacmi.com
Daffron & Associates Inc.
Excelergy
10 Maguire Road
Lexington, MA 02421
(781) 372-5000
Fax (781) 372-5297
www.excelergy.com
Contact
Kevin Swenke, VP Business Development
(214) 802-3311
Sty Young, Chief Operating Officer
(781) 372-5156
Rudolf Das, VP EMEA Sales
+31 (0) 654 606100
1310 Business 61 South
Bowling Green, MO 63334
(888) 323-3766
www.daffron.com
StrAtegic UtiLity MAnAgeMent
software solutions...
available stand-alone or as a
pre-integrated application suite
1-800-ASK- 4-SPL
www.splwg.com
Customer Care & Billing
Outage & Distribution Management
Mobile Workforce Management
Enterprise Business Intelligence
Asset & Work Management
Enterprise Information Architecture
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 65
billing and customer care
Consu lti ng
[case study]
The Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company Case Study
StreamServe® Enables OG&E to “get personal” with their customers
AT A GLANCE
Customer:
Oklahoma Gas & Electric provides utility services to nearly 700,000 customers throughout Oklahoma and western Arkansas.
Challenge:
To support new e-business capabilities; allow quick access to customer documentation; transfer billing information to EDI format, and
print multipage bills.
solution:
StreamServe works in conjunction with OG&E’s SAP R/3 system to
process, format, personalize, and distribute the output for billing and
customer notification processes.
results:
Enhanced customer service due to easy access to archived customer
communications; EDI translation and distribution capabilities, and
enhanced multipage printout capabilities.
Customer quote:
“Our customer service representatives recently told
us that StreamServe is one of the most valuable
tools in their tool belt when addressing customer
inquiries.”
— Deborah Gavula, Supervisor, Special Services,
Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company
To accomplish that goal, OG&E needed an Enterprise Document Presentment solution that could create flexible billing templates, produce official correspondence, and send multi-channel
documents directly to the printer.
SAP’s Customer Care and Service module manages all mission-critical billing and customer notification processes. StreamServe then processes, formats, personalizes and distributes the
output. OG&E uses StreamServe Utilities to create a billing design
that is easy to personalize and modify.
When StreamServe was put in place, the company was not
offering its customers Internet billing services. However, with
StreamServe Utilities, electronic bill presentment and payment
(EBPP) are now possible with no changes to the core system.
Providing EDI, XML capabilities
The company also installed StreamServe’s EDI module, which
translates enterprise application data into EDI format and distributes it to the utility company’s corporate customers. This allows
corporate accounts to pay electronically, providing a means to
increased flow.
In addition to EDI, StreamServe’s solutions for eBusiness
includes XML capabilities, which offers valuable support to
OG&E’s future online billing services and integration to other
systems.
Giving customer service reps the right tools
Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) realized the importance of
personalized and timely customer communications. So when they
implemented the company’s new SAP® R/3 system, OG&E knew
it needed a business communication platform that could integrate
with its enterprise application to facilitate the billing process.
After careful review, OG&E decided that the StreamServe
Utilities® was best equipped to fulfill their requirements.
The StreamServe Intelligent Accelerators for R/3 are certified
by SAP and ensures support for high-volume, high-speed printing environments. The product seamlessly interfaces with SAP’s
Customer and Care Service module to format and personalize the
content based on the specific needs of the recipient.
OG&E, part of the OGE Energy Corporation, is a regulated
electric utility company that serves about 700,000 retail customers
in Oklahoma and Western Arkansas, and has a number of wholesale customers throughout the region. OG&E, with eight power
plants capable of producing about 5,800 megawatts, generates
70 percent of its electricity from low-sulfur Wyoming coal and 30
percent from natural gas. The company delivers electricity across
an interconnected transmission and distribution system spanning
30,000 square miles.
“OG&E is committed to being a leading, progressive electrical utility company,” said James W. Chappel, manager of customer projects for OG&E. “By implementing StreamServe Utilities together
with SAP R/3 CCS, we get a billing and customer care solution
that is integrated, flexible, and customer-centric.”
66 EnergyBiz magazine March/April 2006
For more information, contact Jim Waters at
james.waters@streamserve.com or 781-651-6625
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Supplying a personal Touch to Customer Documents
OG&E’s customer service representatives are a key part of the
company’s communications strategy. To answer inquiries, representatives sometimes need a copy of the original customer
document. Before implementing StreamServe Utilities, the representatives had to put the customer on hold for several minutes,
and print a hard copy. After all that, the print out did not look like
the document the customer received, making the communication
more difficult.
StreamServe’s professional services team recommended that
OG&E install its Print Module, which allows users to access customer documentation quickly and easily. Now OG&E’s representatives are able to pull up the necessary document on their computer
in a matter of seconds.
“Our customer service representatives recently told us that
StreamServe Utilities is one of the most valuable tools in their tool
belt when addressing customer inquiries,” said Deborah Gavula,
supervisor of special services for OG&E.
And that’s one of the reasons that OG&E has been able to connect so well with its customers and, in the process, has continues
to be a “leading, progressive electric utility company.”
Exstream Software
2424 Harrodsburg Road, Suite 200
Lexington, KY 40503
(859) 296-0600
www.exstream.com
Indus
3301 Windy Ridge Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30339
(800) 868-0497
www.indus.com
sis and consulting services; distribution system
design and optimization; Web-based workforce
automation; and enterprise and residential energy
management.
Itron
2818 North Sullivan Road
Spokane, WA 99216
(800) 635-5461
Fax (509) 891-3932
www.itron.com
Contact
Tim Wolf, Marketing Communications Manager
(509) 891-3256
Scott Dixon, Marketing Media Specialist
(510) 844-2820 x2820
Matt Spaur, Senior Marketing Communications
Specialist
(509) 891-3992
Itron is a leading technology provider and
critical source of knowledge to the global energy
and water industries. More than 3,000 utilities
worldwide rely on Itron technology to deliver the
knowledge they require to optimize the delivery
and use of energy and water.
Itron creates value for its clients by providing
industry-leading solutions for electricity metering;
meter data collection; energy information management; demand response; load forecasting; analy-
ITS - Internet Transaction Solutions, Inc.
7720 Rivers Edge Drive
Columbus, OH 43235
(800) 544-9578
Fax (614) 573-0481
www.transactionsolutions.com
Contact
Jim Crossley
(614) 573-0489
Christopher Schroeder
(614) 573-0476
ITS provides Total ePayment SolutionsSM
– empowering our clients to be paid electronically
by all payment methods (electronic check and
credit/debit card, including new applications like
PIN-less debit) through all payment platforms
(IVR, Web, call center, batch and XML) by using
PayMyBill.com®. These services optimize
StrAtegic UtiLity MAnAgeMent
software solutions...
available stand-alone or as a
pre-integrated application suite
1-800-ASK- 4-SPL
www.splwg.com
Customer Care & Billing
Outage & Distribution Management
Mobile Workforce Management
Enterprise Business Intelligence
Asset & Work Management
Enterprise Information Architecture
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 67
billing and customer care
(Excelergy continued)
Excelergy is a world leader in high performance software solutions that optimize the customer care and billing processes in competitive
retail energy markets. Excelergy’s retail energy
software suite provides a complete “straightthrough-processing” transaction management
platform that automates customer acquisition
and care, customer switching, pricing, contract
execution, billing and complex billing. Excelergy
software is built on an open, object-oriented,
Web-centric, native XML technology architecture.
The company’s North American headquarters are
located in Lexington, Mass., with European headquarters in the Netherlands. More information is
available at www.excelergy.com.
(ITS continued)
cash management and reporting, and automate
payment posting, returns administration and
representments — all online with secure payment
processing systems. No purchase, licenses, application or implementation fees. For an interactive
demo visit www.transactionsolutions.com/demo/
and click Interactive Demo.
KUBRA
5050 Tomken
Mississauga, ON L4W 5B1 Canada
(905) 624-2220
www.kubra.com
Accepting MasterCard for bill payment
provides utilities with the opportunity to increase
customer satisfaction and improve the revenue
cycle by offering payment choices and improved
efficiency through processing electronic payments. In addition, the MasterCard Service
Industries Incentive Program (SIIP) provides
participating utilities with a reduced interchange
rate on consumer recurring payment transactions.
To learn how to begin accepting MasterCard for
payment or for more information about SIIP, email
utilities@mastercard.com.
Olameter Inc.
1255 Nicholson Road
Newmarket, ON L3Y 9C3 Canada
(905) 853-6474
www.olameter.com
Oracle Corp.
500 Oracle Parkway
Redwood Shores, CA 94065
(650) 506-7000
www.oracle.com
Level One LLC
5 Great Valley Parkway, Suite 200
Malvern, PA 19355
(610) 251-6996
www.L1consult.com
Metavante Corp.
4900 West Brown Deer Road
Milwaukee, WI 53223
(800) 822-6758
Fax (414) 362-1719
www.metavante.com
Contact
Peter Van Sistine, Senior Vice President,
Marketing
(800) 822-6758
LODESTAR Corp.
Two Corporation Way
Peabody, MA 01960
(978) 573-4657
Fax (978) 573-4800
www.lodestarcorp.com
Contact
Glenn MacRill, VP N. American Sales &
Services
(713) 292-2500
Trevor Martin, Chief Sales & Services Officer
(858) 509-2601
Shawn Fountain, VP Business Development &
Strategic Initiatives
(303) 880-9207
LODESTAR is a world leading provider of
energy software solutions. We enable energy companies to realize business advantage by combining
a true energy information foundation with a suite
of applications for critical business processes that
span across the enterprise. More than 120 leading
energy companies use our solutions worldwide.
Visit us at http://www.lodestarcorp.com.
billing and customer care
creative packaging while driving down the cost to
serve. Founded in 1997 and 100 percent owned
by the employees and directors, NirvanaSoft
serves leading retail energy companies, traders
and generators competing in retail energy markets.
MasterCard International Inc.
2000 Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577
(914) 249-2000
Fax (914) 249-4107
www.mastercardmerchant.com
Contact
Tom Cronin, Program Manager, Acceptance
(914) 249-6741
As part of Metavante Corp. Payment Solutions, CSF® Designer helps clients build stronger
customer relationships through more powerful
communications. CSF Designer expands document capabilities to create personalized, print and
Internet-enabled customer communications - such
as bills, statements, letters, notices, direct mail,
and brochures. Metavante delivers document
composition and payment technologies, including
a complete solution of bill publishing and bill consolidation technology, to businesses worldwide.
NirvanaSoft
Empire State Building
350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 6920
New York, NY 10118
(212) 268-6000
Fax (212) 268-5180
www.nirvanasoft.com
Contact
Carl Kloecker, EVP, Marketing
(212) 268-5989
NirvanaSoft provides customer care and
complex billing solutions for retail energy markets.
NirvanaSoft is focused on enabling retail energy
marketers to achieve critical business goals by
accelerating time-to-market for market entry and
introduction of innovative energy products and
Proxix Solutions Inc.
3202 Palm Harbor Boulevard, Suite A
Palm Harbor, FL 34683
(727) 781-2662
www.proxix.com
Regulus
860 Latour Court
Napa, CA 94558
(866) 747-2877
www.regulusgroup.com
SPL WorldGroup
525 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 963-5600
Fax (415) 963-5601
www.splwg.com
Contact
Carrie Manion, Vice President - Sales
(303) 782-0230
Tracey Mitchell, Director - Marketing
Communications
(973) 401-7525
SPL delivers proven solutions to the global
utility market. Our software applications in
customer care and billing, enterprise asset and
work management, outage management, mobile
workforce management, and distribution management are specifically designed for energy, water,
and service companies. Working with systemsintegration and technology partners, SPL has an
unparalleled record of implementation success.
SPL focuses on clients’ return on investment and
fosters long-term relationships based on confidence and trust. Visit http//:www.splwg.com.
Striata
48 Wall Street, Suite 1100
New York, NY 10005
(888) 887-2729
www.striata.com
StrAtegic UtiLity MAnAgeMent
software solutions...
available stand-alone or as a
pre-integrated application suite
1-800-ASK- 4-SPL
68 EnergyBiz magazine March/April 2006
www.splwg.com
Customer Care & Billing
Outage & Distribution Management
Mobile Workforce Management
Enterprise Business Intelligence
Asset & Work Management
Enterprise Information Architecture
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 69