Just a few years ago, it seemed that electric billing software was necessary as an auxiliary tool for utility companies. However, those providers who have already implemented a utility billing solution have found that it has become a driving force in the development of their businesses. Let’s find out how billing software from the best developers can optimise data management, customer relations, and workflows for energy companies.
What is Electric Billing Software?
Monetizing electricity services requires regular billing of customers, which must be accurate, detailed, and timely. Manual billing generation entails many errors, resulting in dissatisfaction and consumer outflow. Electric utility billing software is a viable solution for billing consumers based on manual labor automation and using AI and ML potential. With its help, utility providers can improve revenue management and customer engagement and build accurate predictive models. Get to know the best examples of software that have become robust solutions for leading companies in the utility industry.
Scope of Application of Electric Billing Software for Utility Companies
Automation of electricity billing processes for industrial and household consumers includes not only generating and distributing invoices. Electric utility billing systems have more capabilities, which can be demonstrated using the example of utility software from MaxBill. The billing solution from this company consists of a set of modules that allow you to manage the following tasks:
- Processing data on electricity consumption in real time;
- Automation of billing and distribution of invoices to consumers;
- Advanced analytics and modeling to predict customer behavior, demand levels, debt risk, etc.;
- Automatic connection, suspension, or termination of services;
- Revenue management to eliminate leakage of cash flows and encourage timely payment for services;
- Partnership management to distribute payments for jointly provided services and much more.
Problems in Electricity Utility Management That Demand Cost-Effective Solutions
Diversification of energy supplies has led to increased competition in the electricity utility sector. To succeed among the many alternative providers, companies can use an electric billing system that will be an effective solution to numerous challenges. Some of the most common problems faced by energy companies are as follows:
- Errors when generating invoices. Incorrect data may appear in bills due to employee mistakes or the fault of consumers who provide wrong data.
- Lack of effective feedback. Clients often encounter difficulties establishing contact with a provider to resolve their issues.
- Heavy load during peak demand. Failure to predict increases in electricity demand leads to disruptions and deterioration of power grids.
- Complex billing calculations. Often, companies cannot offer a variety of tariff plans to consumers simply because they do not have advanced algorithms for accounting for different pricing factors.
Improving Customer Experience with Electrical Billing Software
Billing electricity software from MaxBill allows utility companies to centralize customer communications using the CRM. Managing customer products and services on a single platform eliminates data confusion and lost requests for connection or termination of services. Consumers get direct access to company employees, thanks to which all their requests and complaints are resolved quickly.
Optimization of Revenue Management Processes with Electric Billing Software
Outstanding invoices are becoming a real disaster for energy companies. Not wanting to concede their customers, they lose their income on unpaid bills. MaxBill offers an effective revenue management solution that allows you to:
- Perform collection activities;
- Forecast consumer debt;
- Manage customised payment arrangements;
- Automate payments from the bank account, etc.
Possibilities of Using AI for Electric Utilities
Modern electrical billing software for utility companies is unthinkable without using the potential of AI. Any other billing software without this technology from the very launch of the CIS system is already obsolete. Therefore, MaxBill enhances all modules of its billing solution with AI capabilities aimed at:
- Identifying suspicious consumer behaviour that may indicate fraud;
- Predicting costs and prices to formulate an effective tariff policy;
- Analysis of consumer behaviour and prediction of future demand, etc.
How does the Electricity Billing Software function?
Example of how the electricity billing software functions. The process of preparing product-offering and billing for electricity and other services. Watch the webinar video:
Best Electric Billing Software Companies
Each software developer tries to add unique features to the power billing system, making their software more advanced than that of competitors. Find out about development companies that have managed to take leadership positions by offering effective solutions for the utility industry. Find the TOP 10 electricity billing software of 2024.
MaxBill
MaxBill has specialized in developing software for utility providers since 1996. Its electric billing software is distinguished by an integrated approach and original architecture, which perfectly copes with all current billing-related tasks of utility companies. Moreover, it lays the foundation for scaling and development of utility businesses. MaxBill software consists of 8 modules aimed at solving different tasks:
- Product Catalog
- CRM
- Partner Management
- Ordering
- Meter Reading
- Billing
- Revenue Management
- Self-Care Portal
Software solutions from MaxBill are ideal for compiling complex invoices, predicting consumer behavior, optimizing revenue management, etc.
MaxBill electrical billing software modules diagram
Example of an electricity bill in the MaxBill electrical billing software
Oracle
Oracle is one of the oldest companies in the software market, founded in 1977. Its successful experience in software production has made it one of the leaders in terms of revenue and market capitalization. The company’s headquarters are located in Austin, Texas, USA. Oracle produces various types of software, including:
- Billing and Revenue Management System (BRM)
- Human Capital Management (HCM)
- Customer Experience (CX)
- Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM)
Billing and Revenue Management System (BRM) from Oracle offers flexible models that allow utility providers to adapt this software to the needs of their businesses. A single billing platform hosted in the Cloud or on premises supports various models, including B2C, B2B, and B2B2X.
Utilmate
Utilmate is a company with 20 years of experience in the utility industry. Therefore, its electricity billing solution takes into account all the needs of a utility business selling electricity to consumers. Software from Utilmate consists of multiple blocks:
- Customer Portal
- Billing Automation
- Accounts Receivable
- Analytics and Reports
- Mobile Meter Reader, etc.
The company offers a 60-day free trial period so that electricity utilities can evaluate all the capabilities of the software it offers.
VertexOne
VertexOne has been actively contributing to the development of the digital economy for more than 30 years. Working with utilities and energy companies in North America, VertexOne has put much effort into improving electricity billing systems. Its customer-to-cash technology platform, which various utility companies integrated, serves over 55 million customers. VertexOne’s configurable billing solutions have become the basis for workflow automation across 400 utility companies. Software from VertexOne runs on a Cloud basis and guarantees accurate billing, high security of all data, and top-tier support from the company’s specialists.
AMCS Utility Billing
AMCS also has 30+ years of successful experience developing software for energy companies. Its software is used by clients in more than 80 countries worldwide, which demonstrates the versatility and flexibility of its electricity billing software. AMCS builds its solutions on Azure Cloud, which allows companies to scale their utility businesses, add new services, create joint offers with partners, etc. SaaS solution for billing systems from AMCS allows electricity suppliers to accelerate the digital transformation of their energy businesses and retain consumers with accurate calculations and ideal service.
Electricity billing system MuniBilling
Another effective cloud electricity billing system is the MuniBilling Core platform. It contains all the components necessary for the transition to digital models of interaction with consumers, partners, and employees. The electricity billing solution from MuniBilling includes the following blocks:
- Billing
- Accounts Receivable
- Customer Accounts Management
- Reading Meters, and more.
The transition to automated billing and revenue control occurs in 5 steps, including training employees to work with the program and constant multi-tiered customer support.
CUSI Utility Billing
The development company CUSI (Continental Utility Solutions, Inc.) is famous for having released four generations of utility management software. More than 40 years of cooperation with US utility providers and servicing more than 1,150 companies allowed it to improve its billing solution through extensive practice. Therefore, their CIS Utility Billing system has 10 modules and 10 interfaces designed to solve various problems:
- Electronic Bill Presentation
- Meter Tracking & Reading
- Inventory Management
- Backflow Management
- Customer Web Portal, etc.
Dyball Associates
Software company Dyball Associates works for UK energy suppliers. Its energy billing solution is designed to optimize the performance of energy supplies for both electricity and gas companies. Both solutions have the same interface but different data flow management systems:
- REGMAN for electricity utilities
- GASMAN for gas supply businesses
As a software billing solution, Dyball Associates offers a configurable web-based platform convenient for consumers and employees. This approach to serving consumers is beneficial because they do not have to use different applications or web platforms to communicate with utility companies or pay for their services. All this can be done within one interface.
Tridens Monetization
Tridens is a relatively young but successful software development company from the European Union. It offers innovative solutions for utility services. Tridens has only a little over 150 clients, but they appreciate the developer’s non-standard and effective billing solutions. It offers a cloud-based meter-to-customer platform with configurable elements. Their software supports the operation of smart meters and older infrastructure at once. Therefore, electricity providers will not have to search for a solution to combine consumer billing with meters from different generations.
Cogsdale
Cogsdale is a division of Harris Computer Systems, which produces software for various industries, including healthcare, utilities, and public and private sectors. Cogsdale has been part of this ecosystem for 25 years, creating electricity billing systems for customers in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Cogsdale’s billing solution is part of its Customer Service Management (CSM) system, which is designed for any utility provider, including electricity, gas, water, telecommunications, etc.
Key Takeaways for Energy Tech Leaders
Electricity providers can optimize their billing workflow using the latest technological advances, including AI and ML. Modern electric utility billing systems differ significantly from previous generations of software both in their more comprehensive architecture and additional analytical and predictive capabilities. They allow utility providers to plan their activities many steps ahead. Accurate and timely customer billing helps improve customer satisfaction and maintain a competitive position in the energy services market. It also eliminates gaps in revenue streams and allows for significant savings on manual labour costs.
