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investigation. RAS was jointly developed by Itron and Bass
& Company, combining Itron’s revenue assurance module with
Bass’ revenue assurance expertise. The service employs several
filters; for this specific utility the filters were rate analysis,
demand versus consumption analysis and meter events.
Rate
analysis identified numerous customers that were not on
the correct rate or rate class for their usage profile including
204 premises which needed to be put on new rates.
The demand
versus consumption analysis detected inconsistencies between
usage and demand reading for demand-metered sites including
a big load drop without corresponding drop in kWh and accounts
where demand and consumption were incoherent. In all, 2,944
premises were identified with these inconsistencies.
The meter
events filter detected variances in usage before and after
metering events, such as installing, replacing, repairing
or testing a meter. The filter identified inconsistent gas
and electricity consumption, and discrepancies in electric
load in 849 premises.
The utility
only had to provide Itron with regular updates of customer,
meter and account information. All the analysis was done by
Itron and Bass.
With RAS, utilities
can access suspect accounts through a secure Web-interface
and view the state of the investigation process in which they
reside. Further simplifying the process, the customer does
not have to install any additional software. Utilities define how often and how many
accounts they would like to receive for investigation. RAS
also provides an estimated cash value for each case, meaning
it gave the customer an estimated recover value by account.
Chances
are there are a number of utilities that aren’t realizing
all the revenue they’re entitled to because they don’t bill
for it. Utilities incur all the costs related to the commodity—generating
or buying it, transporting and delivering it, and servicing
it—but too often the revenue remains unrealized. The causes
vary from gaps in infrastructure or internal processes and
controls, to information technology shortcomings, theft and
fraud. What’s more, tighter regulations are making it increasingly
difficult to recover revenue later on when you’ve finally
discovered where the leak occurred and who to bill for the
energy.
To help
utilities recover past losses and realize current and future
revenue, Itron and Bass & Company offer RAS as a proven process
and proprietary toolset for figuring out where you are losing
money, how much you are losing and how to identify any leaks, giving
the utility a starting point when addressing issues.
For more
information about Revenue Assurance Service, click here
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