Utilities Accounting Software: Find The Right Program for Your Company

In order to accurately and efficiently bill customers for their utility consumption, usage data must be collected and converted into billable units. However, this data collection process is very time consuming when done repeatedly for all customers. For this reason, utility providers of all sizes often turn to utility billing software to automate key tasks. Utility billing software helps providers track usage of the utility services they offer, e.g., water, gas, electricity, wastewater and sanitation. It then helps these providers manage the billing process based on the usage data collected.

Key Features

Different systems offer a range of functionalities here are some of the most common capabilities found in utility billing software.

• Account management
• Meter Management
• Customer Management
• Metered Billing
• Non-metered billing
• Rate Management
• Move in and move out
• Online Payment processing
• Penalty / cut-off process

Benefits of Utility Software

Besides the obvious benefits involved in introducing software to automate key tasks, such as; increased productivity and cost effectiveness. There are some specific benefits of implementing utility software including the following:

• Identification of customer usage patterns: This module enables users to view the history of all customers. This helps identify customers that are heavy consumers of a utility service and take measures to maintain and enhance those relationships.
• Managing Multiple client locations: For a single customer with multiple properties, utility software can help users manage billing either on a single invoice or separate bills according to customer preference.
• Data Security: Safe and secure transactions help users build better customer relations since they can ensure all personal data remains safe. Cloud-based utility billing software offers encrypted data backups on a regular basis. Most of these systems are Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant and offer bank-level encryption through multiple servers.