State of the Industry and Best Practices for Customer Service and Metering Systems

The “meter-to-cash” business process is a vital process for the water sector. It is the engine of revenue, and ensures that utilities get paid for the services they provide. It includes managing customer data, obtaining consumption data, sending bills, handling calls, collecting payments, and applying payments to the proper general ledger accounts. Several technologies are critical to accomplishing this work, including Customer Information Systems (CIS), Automated Meter Reading (AMR) systems, and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems.Many utilities struggle with managing, updating, or replacing their CIS and AMR/AMI systems. They also seek guidance on best practices surrounding the management of these technologies. The Water Research Foundation (WRF) Tailored Collaboration project provides utilities with such guidance.