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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.
The first step to adoption of an automated system is the installation of automated meter readers in the households and premises. Manual reading of meters has taken place for a long time especially in the rural areas. Automated systems allow for the meter reading to be done remotely without sending employees to physically go and read the meters. An automatic meter can be read from hundreds of meters away from a control station.
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.
Companies which have adopted this system are much more efficient in their bills distribution. These companies are able to have electronic billing whereby the bills are sent to the consumers through their emails. Postage costs that used to be incurred before to send bills via post have been eliminated.
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.
Automatic meter readers are justified because of location of some of the meters. Some manual meters are located in dangerous areas which is an increased risk to the employees of that company. Other areas are even hard to access located in harsh terrains. This increases the cost to the company and even consumes more time in reading of those meters.
The first step to adoption of an automated system is the installation of automated meter readers in the households and premises. Manual reading of meters has taken place for a long time especially in the rural areas. Automated systems allow for the meter reading to be done remotely without sending employees to physically go and read the meters. An automatic meter can be read from hundreds of meters away from a control station.
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.
Companies which have adopted this system are much more efficient in their bills distribution. These companies are able to have electronic billing whereby the bills are sent to the consumers through their emails. Postage costs that used to be incurred before to send bills via post have been eliminated.
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.
Automatic meter readers are justified because of location of some of the meters. Some manual meters are located in dangerous areas which is an increased risk to the employees of that company. Other areas are even hard to access located in harsh terrains. This increases the cost to the company and even consumes more time in reading of those meters.
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