Latest News & Announcements

Survey: Challenges in Payment Area Emerge As Smart Grids Take Shape
WAUSAU Financial Systems, Inc. - Impacts of a difficult economy. Increased regulation. Consumers demanding many more payment options. Aging IT resources. Uncertainty about what smart grids will bring. more...
Milsoft and Exceleron Software Provide Pre Paid Electric Service Options to Central Electric EMC
Milsoft Utility Solutions, Inc. - Milsoft Utility Solutions, an industry leader in engineering analysis, outage management, interactive voice response, geospatial information systems and field engineering solutions, announced today that it has successfully interfaced its PORCHE Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system with Exceleron Software’s Pre-paid Account Management System (PAMS.) Deployed at Central Electric Membership Corporation in Sanford, North Carolina, customers who elect (or are required) to use pre-paid as a payment method can also now utilize the automated PORCHE IVR system to retrieve account balances and make payments using credit cards or e-checks. more...
Central Lincoln People's Utility District selects Harris' Advanced Utility Systems
Advanced Utility Systems Corporation - Harris’ Advanced Utility Systems (Advanced) is pleased to announce that Central Lincoln People’s Utility District (CLPUD) has selected CIS Infinity as its preferred customer information and billing solution. more...
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Denver Water Enhances Billing Capabilities and Customer Service with Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing
Oracle - Denver Water, a provider of high-quality water and a promoter of its efficient use to 1.3 million people in the City of Denver and many surrounding suburbs, has implemented Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing to replace a legacy customer information system (CIS) – helping the utility enhance billing capabilities and customer service and better understand customer needs. more...
Reliant Energy to Accept MasterCard Cards for Small and Mid-size Commercial Customer Bill Payments
MasterCard Worldwide - MasterCard Worldwide today announced that Texas-based electricity and energy services provider Reliant Energy is now accepting MasterCard cards for bill payments from its small and mid-size commercial customers as part of its existing electronic payment card program. more...
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ENERGY BLOGS

Lots of work to do on smart grid; it’s expensive and some things haven’t yet been invented.

Blogger Photo By Warren Causey - The “smart grid” or “Intelligent Utility”, which is receiving a tremendous amount of press and promotion from the federal government more...

SMARTENING UP THE DUMB

Blogger Photo By Kate Rowland - If I see the words “dumb grid” used one more time in the popular media, I’m going to scream!   more...

Planning the Work and Working the Plan

Blogger Photo By Bart Thielbar - The journey of a million miles that I blogged about last week is off to a solid start.  At the more...

Dodging a bullet the hard way

Blogger Photo By Warren Causey - It has been a busy week or so, with the DOE releasing ARRA “smart grid” awards on last Tuesday and more...

The First Step on a Journey of a Million Miles

Blogger Photo By Bart Thielbar - With much anticipation and great fanfare, President Obama and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced $3.4 billion of stimulus funding more...
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Articles

Utilities Reap Greater Cost Efficiencies and Consumer Relationships Through Fully Integrated Electronic Payment & Billing

By Robert Craig
Smart grids, remote meter reading -- these are exciting times for new technology in the utility industry. But while some of these major core services are being rapidly reengineered there is one regular activity in more...
Filed Under Billing & Bill Payment

Prepaid Programs: The Answer to Write-Offs, Bad Debts, and Debt Collection

By Jeffrey Severs
Prepaid programs are taking the utility industry by storm. Once accused of preying on low-income households by forcing them to choose non-traditional billing methods, optional prepaid programs have rapidly grown in popularity in recent years, more...
Filed Under Billing & Bill Payment

Growing Consumer Preference for Electronic Payments Drives Benefits for the Utility Industry

By Steve Carnevale
For utility companies, electronic payment programs -- which include card acceptance and online bill payments -- offer the ability to streamline billing operations, enhance customer satisfaction and stay competitive in a constantly evolving marketplace. more...
Filed Under Billing & Bill Payment

Developing a Customer Value Transformation Roadmap

By Jasmeet Anand
Historically, utility customers have had limited interactions with their electric and gas utilities, except to start or stop service, report outages, and pay bills or resolve billing questions. The situation is changing as the result more...
Filed Under Billing & Bill Payment

So Much, for So Little

By J. Michael Bradley
The continued preference for consumers to pay all things, including their utility bills, via credit cards, debit cards, or online account transfer continues. And recent regulatory changes enabling consumers to authorize recurring direct debits holds more...
Filed Under Billing & Bill Payment
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