WO2003060665A2

WO2003060665A2 - System and method for producing invoices with special billing requirements

Info

Publication number: WO2003060665A2
Application number: PCT/US2003/000784
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jose R. Vassaux
Original assignee: American Electric Power Service Corporation
Priority date: 2002-01-09
Filing date: 2003-01-09
Publication date: 2003-07-24
Also published as: WO2003060665A3; AU2003207515A8; AU2003207515A1

Abstract

A software system and method for managing special or complex billing for large utility customers is disclosed. Utilities that bill customers for usage of a commodity or service (e.g., electricity, natural gas, water, oil or gasoline, the phone, cable, mobile communications, or another metered service) may use the software system and method to produce invoices or billing statements for their customers. Special billing requirements for each utility customer may be based on special billing products (228, 232, 200, 202, 204, 206, 208, 210, 212) offered by the utility. Data regarding the special billing products may be entered into a product allocation table (234) along with customer (200) and usage data (228, 232, 202, 204, 208, 210, 212). The software system and method automatically calculates billing determinants (236) using the product allocation table data and applies appropriate rates and charges to produce an invoice (238) or billing statement.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING INVOICES WITH SPECIAL BILLING REQUIREMENTS

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for producing or extracting billing determinants. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for producing invoices or billing statements based on billing determinants for utility customers who have special contract or unusual billing requirements.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Many utilities enter into contracts with their commercial and industrial customers for the supply of commodities such as electricity, gas, and water. For example, industrial customers such as manufacturing companies that consume large amounts of electricity may enter into a contract with a utility that supplies electricity and certain special electric products to ensure that their needs for electricity will be met and to receive the appropriate rates and charges for the electricity they consume. The charges for the special products vary based on the reliability level for service that the customer desires. The demand for utility sen/ices for an industrial or commercial facility may vary throughout the month, day or even the hour, for a number of reasons. Demand for service may vary based on production schedules or other controlled events as well as uncontrolled events such as the customer's generating equipment failure at his manufacturing facility. Regardless of the events that occur throughout the month, day or hour, the customer wants assurance that his energy needs will be met according to the agreement between the customer and the utility company. The supply of electricity as well as the number and types of ^"special electric^'1 products available from the utility may vary for a number of reasons. Interruptions in the supply of electricity, excess capacity, and shortages may occur within even short periods of time for many reasons. For example, the demand for electricity may increase because of extreme heat or extreme cold and may result in shortages of electricity. In periods of moderate weather and temperature, the demand for electricity will also moderate when the utility conducts surplus transactions with the its customers if such transactions are warranted by the operating system conditions. Finally, scheduled as well as unscheduled generating unit outages may result in interruptions in the supply of electricity and therefore, affect the ability of the utility to supply electricity to meet current demand. All of these events may have an impact on the electricity supply to each customer during certain time intervals. Billing utility customers for a period of time in which interruptions of service were in effect may further complicate the calculation of the customer's bill because the customer may have a clause in his contract to purchase energy from a different supplier (buy- through) at the current hourly market price for the specified period of interruption. If the customer opts not to purchase energy from a different source than the local utility, then he must comply with the request to curtail his use by the specified amount in the contract for electric service. Checks for curtailment compliance during periods when the customer chooses to curtail must be made to ensure the customer is charged appropriately.

Many utilities and their large customers have agreed to special contract provisions, which have resulted in complex billing processes. For example, a customer who owns generating units that produce a portion of its electricity requirements may contract with the utility for one or more blocks of "backup" or enough electricity to co'.'er the loss of one or more generating^' units at his location! This customer may also contract with the utility for one or more blocks of maintenance power. This contract provision may be used when the customer has scheduled maintenance for one or more of his generating units. Typically, the customer must request the maintenance option, in his contract with the utility, a specific number of days before the customer takes out his unit for the scheduled maintenance. In either case, when the utility bills this customer and these contract options have been exercised, the recorded demand (KW) on that customer's meter must be reduced by the amount of backup and or maintenance requested. Both of these options can be exercised simultaneously. However, the resulting net demand during the exercise of these options can never result in negative firm demand.

There are other contract options such as surplus, several types of interruptible options, buy-through options, transmission service, standard peak options, and shoulder peak options that make special contract billing a very complex process within the utility industry. Therefore, there is a need for a flexible billing system and method that can process standard bills as well as complex bills quickly and accurately and which can be adapted to different utilities and rate structures.

The present invention is a software system and method for managing special or complex billing for large utility customers. Any utility that bills customers for usage of a commodity or service (e.g., electricity, natural gas, water, sewage service and any other service that can be measured in pulses) may use the present invention to produce invoices or billing statements for its customers. The software system and method calculates billing determinants and applies appropriate rates and charges to produce an invoice or billing statement. A plurality of software modules process data from a plurality tables, databases, or other data sources to provide the features and functionality of the present invention. The software modules are^'designed fόr flexibility and adaptability so that the present invention may be used by any utility or commodity/service provider that has large utility customers with special or customized billing requirements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S) Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the process for producing an invoice or billing statement with special billing requirements according to an example embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a diagram of the primary components of a software system and method for producing an invoice or billing statement with special billing requirements according to an example embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a template for a billing determinants table according to an example embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 4 is an invoice with special billing requirements produced according to an example embodiment of the present invention; and

Figs. 5A-5C is a flowchart of the primary steps for a method for producing an invoice or billing statement with special requirements according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENT(S) In one example embodiment of the present invention described herein, an electric utility supplies electricity to industrial customers such as manufacturing facilities. Referring to Fig. 1 , a block diagram of the process for producing an invoice or billing statement for a customer with special billing requirements according to an example embodiment of the present invention is s^vhόwri^l. A^'utitify ό^'O^'prόvides ^'a^' '"^' commodity or service to a customer 102. The utility 100 may comprise one or more departments that assist in the production of invoices or billing statements for large customers. For example, the utility 100 may comprise a rates and tariffs department 108 that determines the rates and other charges for each customer of the utility. The utility 100 may further comprise a billing department 110 that is responsible for producing invoices or billing statements for customers. The customer's usage of the commodity or service is recorded by a meter 104 that measures the customer's usage of the commodity or service supplied by the utility 100. Meter data may be transmitted from the meter 104 to a data collection system 106 that collects meter data for a plurality of customers. The data collection system 106 may comprise commercially available software such as MV-90 software which is used by many utilities. The MV-90 software system provides an interface between the meters in the field and a utility's billing system. It records data from a meter according to a specified interval (e.g., hourly) and stores it in an interval data repository. The MV- 90 software at a data collection system 106 may be a Microsoft Windows-based system that retrieves the recorded data via telephone communications directly from a meter 104 and stores recorded interval data for use by a utility's billing department 110. The billing department 110 may produce an invoice or billing statement based on input from the data collection system 106 and the rates and tariffs department 108. The input from the data collection system 106 and rates and tariffs department 108 may be provided to the billing department 110 through databases or tables that contain the needed information. The invoice or billing statement produced by the billing department 110 may then be sent to the customer 102 in hardcopy, electronic, or any other format desired by the customer. Referring to Fig. 2, a diagram of the primary components of the software^' ' system and method according to an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. A product allocation table 234 is at the center of the system. It is comprised of the pulse information recorded at the customer's delivery point by a special recorder. The pulse information is stored in an interval data repository 204. The system interfaces with a special products database in which all of the current month's special products data is recorded on a daily basis. Data from the special products database is retrieved and inserted into the product tables of the present invention as shown in Fig. 2. Each customer may be subjected to calculations and allocation of all of the special products offered by the electric utility. For example, an electric utility may offer the special products and services defined in Table 1.

Table 1 Product Definition

Advanced Time of Predetermined hourly pricing structure based on current system operating conditions Day

Backup Service provided to a customer when the customer's power production facilities or other sources of electrical energy supply are unavailable due to unscheduled or scheduled outages or maintenance

Interruptible Service provided to a customer at a reduced rate that allows interruption Includes opportunity

Service sales, capacity deficiency A & B, and operating reserve

Buy-through Replacement electricity service provided to a customer at the lowest reasonable rate available

Provisions in order to avoid interruption of service to the customer

Cogeneration Service from customer's power production facilities sold by customer to utility

Purchase

Compliance Determines whether the amount of interruptible demand has been met when there is a

Demand requested reduction

Determination

Hourly Service provided to customer by another service provider

Transmission

Maintenance Service provided to customer when customer's power production facilities are unavailable due to scheduled maintenance

Real Time Pricing Rate based on a specific time and system operating conditions Table 1

Product Definition

Standard Tariff Various cost structures associated with the sale of a product including residential, commercial,

Rates and industrial customers

Surplus/ Service provided to customer to supplement the customer's power production facilities or its

Supplemental sources of electrical energy supply where additional power in excess of that normally supplied by the customer's other sources of supply is required to meet the customer s total requirements

Time of Day Predetermined rate per day and time of day Typical definitions are on-peak weekdays, 7 AM to 9 PM local time, and off-peak weekdays, 9 PM to 7AM, Saturday, and Sunday

For a utility offering special products and special contract provisions for electric service, all of the data related special products and services are allocated in the product allocation table 234 and may include data from one or more of the following sources

Table 2

Data Source Description

Customer Customer data to identify a customer Data fields may include the following Table 200 Recorder Identifier - identifier for data collection system

Customer Key - unique identifier for customer (e g , customer name)

Name. Address. City, State. Zip - contact information for customer

Jurisdiction - regulating body for rates and contract based on customer location (e g , state or

FERC)

Time Zone - actual time zone for customer

Daylight Savings Time Option -indicates whether recorder automatically switches to daylight savings time

Recorder Time - indicates record programmed time zone

Account Number - unique customer account number

Reliability - reliability levels for purchase of backup electricity stated in customer's contract

Contract Capacity - level of backup or standby stated in customer's contract

Maximum Hours - maximum number of hours for backup capacity stated in customer's contract

Capacity Deficiency A - capacity amount A stated in customer's contract

Capacity Deficiency B - capacity amount B stated in customer's contract

When the provider experiences or projects a capacity deficiency due to insufficient generating capacity to satisfy load requirements

Opportunity Sales - capacity amount stated in customer's contract When the provider experiences or projects a capacity deficiency and can sell the product to another customer for a greater profit

Contract Capacity - level or amount of capacity stated in customer's contract

On-Peak Start - specified start time as on-peak stated in customer's contract

On-Peak End - specified end time as off-peak stated in customer's contract

Firm Capacity - level or amount of capacity required as stated in customer's contract

Interval Frequency - number of recorder intervals per hour stated in customer's contract (e g , 30 minutes, 15 minutes)

Meter Multipliers - factors used to adjust measured product when metered at one voltage level and billed at another voltage level

Advanced Time of Day Interval - Predetermined hourly pricing structure stated in customer's contract

Time Period Data designating billing periods for customer based on start and end dates and times History 202 Table 2

Data Source Description

Interval Data Product usage data (electricity, gas, water, etc ) that is time period specific It records pulses and Repository 204 with appropriate multiplier and algorithms results in a unit of measure for the product (KW, KWH, Therms, etc )

Origin - field meter/recorder device Data collection systems (MV-90, RO-90, Metermate, Multimaster, etc ) interrogate the meter remotely Data may also be imported from a handheld meter reading device

Storage - data collection system stores raw pulse data and passes raw and/or content adjusted data to a software module that stores the data collection system data in a format adjusted manner in the repository

Data Fields - data fields transferred from the data collection system depend upon the product rate special billing requirements and interface between the data collection system and receiving software module For electricity, data fields may include recorder identifier, date, hour, interval, unit of measure, KW load, KW cogeneration load, second delivery point KW load, KVAR Data Transfer - data fields may be transferred daily, weekly, monthly, or as needed from the data collection system to the receiving software module Interface may be manual or electronic Use - aggregated and manipulated with use of various product parameters to create billing determinants

Daylight Data designating dates and local times for start and end of daylight savings Savings Table 206

Hourly Data designating hourly transmissions scheduled by customer as stated in customer's contract

Transmission Customer may purchase electricity from different sources and the utility may charge for Schedule 208 transmission of the energy from the third-party source to the customer Used to allocate recorded demand based on hourly blocks scheduled by the customer

Backup, Data designating amount of backup electricity customer may purchase as stated in customer's Surplus & contract, amount of electricity customer may sell to utility as stated in customer's contract, and Maintenance amount of electricity customer may use for maintenance as stated in customers contract Tables 210

Holidays Table Data designating dates of holidays for special treatment in billing 212

Backup and Data designating actual amount of backup electricity customer consumed and actual amount of Maintenance electricity customer used for maintenance Hours Used Tables 228

Peak Periods Data designating on-peak periods and shoulder peak periods Data fields may include Table 230 Standard On-Peak Start - start date of standard on-peak stated in rate or customer's contract Standard On-Peak End - end date of standard on-peak stated in rate or customer's contract Winter Start, Spring Start, Summer Start, Fall Start - user-specified start period of time stated in rate or customer's contract for each season

First On-Peak Start Weekdays Winter, First On-Peak End Weekdays Winter, First On-Peak Start Weekdays Spring, First On-Peak End Weekdays Spring, First On-Peak Start Weekdays Summer, First On-Peak End Weekdays Summer, First On-Peak Start Weekdays Spring, First On-Peak End Weekdays Spring, Second On-Peak Start Weekdays Winter, Second On-Peak End Weekdays Winter, Second On-Peak Start Weekdays Spring, Second On-Peak End Weekdays Spring, Second On-Peak Start Weekdays Summer, Second On-Peak End Weekdays Summer, Second On-Peak Start Weekdays Spring. Second On-Peak End Weekdays Spring - user-specified start and end dates for each season Shoulder Peak Periods - subset of on-peak weekday periods stated in rate or customer's contract

Interruptions Data designating how many hours service to customer may be interrupted, pricing for service Tables & interruptions stated in customer's contract, when interruptions occurred during the billing period, Prices 232 and the amount of electricity requested by the customer during the interruptions Data from the product allocation table 234 is then used to de'rivei compile, and populate a billing determinants table. A software module calculates all of the billing determinants that allow a user to calculate a customer's bill. Approximately 100 billing determinants may be produced by the billing determinants software module An example of a billing determinants table according to an example embodiment of the present invention is shown in Table 3

Table 3

Table 3

Referring to Fig. 3, a billing determinants table may contain derived or extracted information that may be grouped into four sections: a demand information section 300, a special options demand and energy section 302, an energy information section 304, and a billing period information section 306 The derived billing determinants may be viewed in a template as shown ϊn the example" ^' embodiment of Fig. 3.

Referring to Fig. 2, the billing determinants contained in the billing determinants table 236 are then programmatically placed in an invoice template. A template for the billing determinants is shown in the example embodiment in Fig. 3. The template may comprise several pages with which the user may interact. The user may select information appearing on one page of the template and place it on another page in order to produce an invoice.

The placement in a template of the applicable rates and riders from the rates table 226, the billing determinants 236, and the buy-through information from the buy-through records table 214 is accomplished through a software module entitled "invoice painter" 238. The invoice painter opens a predefined invoice template comprising one or more pages from the invoice template repository 224 and programmatically places the billing determinants 236 on a determinants page with which a user may interact. Information is placed and formatted into an invoice by cell references and formulas that actually complete the customer's invoice or billing statement. The invoice or billing statement 216 and the buy-through true up details 218 as created in the present invention may be accomplished in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel or any other spreadsheet software package of the user's choice that may be used to produce an invoice or billing statement. Additional input to the invoice painter 238 includes the following:

Table 4

Data Source Description

Rates Table Schedule of rates to be applied to customer's usage and related data. Rates may differ depending

226 on when the customer consumed the electricity and under what circumstances

Invoice Templates for producing customer invoices or billing statements. Invoices or billing statements

Templates may be customized for different customers

Repository 224 Table 4

Data Source Description

Buy Through Data indicating when customer purchased replacement service to avoid interruption of service

Records Table

214

Output from the invoice painter 238 may include the following

Table 5

Output Description

Rate-Ready Usage and other data to which rates may be applied to determine the amount owed by the

Bill Data 222 customer to the utility Different rates may be used to create an itemized invoice or billing statement for the customer

Billing Period Data for billing period indicating start and end dates and times

History Table

220

Buy-through Data reconciling estimated rates for buy-through and actual rates for buy-through

True-up Details

218

Customer Complete invoice or billing statement that may be sent on hardcopy or electronically to customer

Invoice 216

Referring to Fig. 4, an invoice with special billing requirements produced in accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention is shown A prominent feature of the present invention is the ability to let an operator or a biller take control of the spreadsheet after placement of the rate tariff, the tariff riders, and the billing determinants on a page of the invoice template. The operator or biller, at this time, has complete control in creating or designing the invoice to accommodate the information necessary for the customer to interpret or understand the invoice or statement By allowing the operator or biller the freedom to design or set the bill presentation format, an operator or biller may bill customers that have similar contract requirements or possibly fewer contract requirements. The operator or biller is free to select the pertinent billing determinants from the determinants that are calculated automatically and placing them on another page of the invoice template. The operator or biller is also free to calculate additional billing determinants from the ones provided by the billing determinants table. For example, if the billing determinants table does not provide a calculation for horsepower to render a bill based on horsepower rates, the operator or biller has the necessary information in the determinants to calculate the value directly on the spreadsheet he is developing to bill the customer who is served on the horsepower tariff. This feature allows an operator or biller to install the system one day and produce a bill or invoice the next day.

Another unique feature of the present invention is the integration of the database and spreadsheet software. This feature allows a user to readily introduce new customers into the system. The user first inserts the new customer's information into the customer table contained in the database. Rate tariff and tariff riders for the customer are included in the corresponding tables. A spreadsheet template that resembles the invoice format that the fits the desired invoice presentation for this customer is also made available. Once a template is in the invoice template repository 224, the system automatically call it when this customer's data is calculated. After the billing determinants have been inserted into the invoice template, the user may then use the appropriate billing determinants for final calculation of the charges to that customer. Development of information contained in the product allocation table allows the system to derive or extract the billing determinants that are used to produce an invoice or billing statement. If additional billing determinants are necessary, they may be produced by the provider or seller of the system in the process of building the product allocation table. Alternatively, if new billing determinants may be derived from the billing determinants already provided through the product allocation table, then the new billing determinants may be added while the invoice" or billing statement is produced.

Referring to Fig. 5A, the process of creating a product allocation table, deriving or extracting billing determinants, and producing an invoice or billing statement may comprise the following steps. The product allocation table may be constructed with data from the interval data repository. In step 500, a user gets customer information, for example, by selecting a customer to be billed from a list of customers.

Next, in step 502 the user may specify start and end times and dates for a billing period. The user also specifies a buy-through date and time which is the start date of the prior billing period. This data may be needed if the customer has a buy- through provision in his contract. The end time of the first interval of data to be processed and the end time of the last interval of data to be processed is also provided. The time of the buy-through first day interval is typically the end of the first interval processed in the prior billing period. This information may be used to determine what information should be used from the various data sources to determine the customer's charges. Data is loaded in the product allocation table for the customer as follows. Time period records from the interval data repository that match the customer and the time period being billed are loaded in the product allocation table. Data may be retrieved or loaded from the interval data repository

based on the customer's recorder identifier.

In step 504, the customer name may be updated. A customer's name field may be updated by inserting the customer name from the customer table. In step 506, the day of the week is determined based on information in a normal date field. Next, in step 508, holidays are allocated based on data from the holidays table and designated in a holiday field in the product allocation table. In step 510, the absolute KVAR is calculated and added to the product allocation table. The absolute KVAR value is based on meter data and meter multipliers. In step 512, total demand in kilowatts is calculated and in step 514, kilovolt-amperes is calculated. These values are added to the product allocation table.

In step 516, backup electricity requested by the customer during and in the designated times that the customer requested it is allocated. Backup electricity taken by the customer is allocated based on data from the backup and maintenance hours used tables and backup, surplus and maintenance tables. Backup hours used are then calculated based on when interruptions in service occurred and the amount of energy consumed by the customer during the interruption periods. If the customer curtailed service during an interruption, this information is taken into account. The system records and tracks of the number of hours during the contract year that the customer has used backup. If the customer reaches the maximum number of hours allowed for backup in the contract, the system disallows any further backup for the remainder of the contract year. In step 518, maintenance taken by the customer is allocated based on data from the backup and maintenance hours used tables and backup, surplus and maintenance tables. Maintenance hours used are then calculated. The system

records and tracks the number of hours of maintenance used by the customer.

In step 520, net demand in kilowatt hours for the interval level is calculated based on the total recorded demand for the customer less demand attributable to backup or maintenance hours. This value reflects what the customer actually used during the billing period.

In step 522, surplus taken by the customer is allocated based on data from the backup, surplus and maintenance tables. Surplus is allocated based on customer requests on any day and time at the interval level. The value is based on when the energy was used, how much was used, and the rate for surplus usage.

In step 524, adjusted metered demand in kilowatt hours for the interval level is calculated based on the net demand less surplus. In addition, the monthly base demand and monthly base demand for the interval level is derived and inserted into the product allocation table.

In step 526, surplus demand usage in kilowatt hours is calculated. Surplus kilowatt hour usage is calculated also.

In step 528, hourly transmission is allocated based on data from the hourly transmission schedules table. Energy purchased from other sources may be subject to transmission charges imposed by the utility.

Referring to Fig. 5B, in step 530, on-peak and off-peak dump energy is calculated, if applicable. Dump energy is electricity that the customer has ordered

but decided not to use. The utility then may use the energy that the customer ordered but did not use. The amounts related to on-peak and off-peak dump energy may be used in calculating the customer's charges.

In step 532, demand after surplus in kilowatts for the interval level is calculated. f In step 534, incremental demand in kilowatt hours, when requested by the customer, is calculated. Temporary demand limit in kilowatt hours for the interval level is also calculated. In step 536, action codes (e.g., "B" for bought hrough^' of ^'"C'^f'τbr curtailed) ^" selected by the customer during times of interruptions are inserted. When interruptions to service occur, a customer may have several options for responding to the interruption depending upon the terms and conditions of the customer's contract. For example, the customer may elect to obtain the electricity from another source (buy-through). Alternatively, the customer may agree to curtail use under certain circumstances established in the customer's contract. The action code indicates whether the customer bought through or curtailed usage during a mandatory interruption. In step 538, the level of demand in kilowatts during mandatory interruptions are calculated. In addition, the current billing period's interruption hours and year-to- date interruption hours are calculated.

In step 540, the cogeneration energy delivered to the utility is calculated. The utility's purchases of energy at the interval levels are allocated when this option is in the customer's contract. The adjusted cogeneration energy delivered to the utility is then calculated based on purchases the utility may have made from a trading group that offers electricity.

In step 542, the curtailable on-peak demand in kilowatt hours is calculated.

In step 544, the on-peak and off-peak hours in the billing period are

calculated.

In step 546, the demand in kilowatt hours during curtailment is calculated.

In step 548, the base adjusted demand during curtailment is calculated.

In step 550, the firm capacity during mandatory interruptions is calculated.

In step 552, the compliance demand during mandatory interruptions is calculated. The compliance demand value considers whether the customer complied with curtailment requirements established in the customer's contract. If the customer does not comply with curtailment requirements, excess charges may be imposed.

In step 554, the billing demand is calculated and separated into on-peak, off- peak, and shoulder peak periods. Demands are allocated into on peak, off peak, and shoulder peaks in the product allocation table.

Next, in step 556, the adjusted KVA is calculated.

In step 558, the system derives or extracts the billing determinants from the data in the product allocation table. The determinants are saved in the billing determinants table. An example billing determinants table appears in Fig. 3. The data from the billing determinants table may then be transmitted to the invoice painter to create an invoice or billing statement.

In step 560, buy-through records are retrieved from the buy-through true-up details database. Referring to Fig. 5C, in step 562, the prices for the energy purchased during the prior billing period (actual prices used for true-up) and estimated prices for the current billing period are inserted in the product allocation table.

Next, in step 564, the buy-through records are transmitted from the buy- through records table to the invoice painter. The buy-through energy is then calculated.

Finally, in step 566, the system executes the invoice painter module and the user produces the customer's invoice based on the billing determinants developed in accordance with the product allocation table. Billing history information is saved in the time period history table. The processes of creating a product allocation table, deriving or extracting billing determinants for a billing determinants table, and producing an invoice or billing statement may be supported by a plurality of software modules that perform the required actions. Each software module may perform one or more of the steps for creating a product allocation table, creating a billing determinants table, and producing an invoice or billing statement. Many of the steps are independent and may be performed in a different order than shown in Fig. 5. The process may be initiated manually to automatically create an invoice or billing statement for a customer. The output of the processes is one table or record with approximately 100 billing determinants or parameters that may be used to produce an invoice or billing statement. The invoice or billing statement may be modified for the specific needs of the utility or service provider. Special requirements in billing that are supported include tariffs, rate structures, interrupt provisions, and buy-through provisions. The present invention may be implemented in a client-server environment or Internet Web environment such that a service provider may access software modules to produce an invoice or billing statement.

Although the present invention is described in relation to an example embodiment in which an electric utility supplies electricity to industrial customers, it is understood that the present invention may be used by any utility that bills customer for usage of a commodity or service (e.g., electricity, gas, water, oil, telephone, cable, mobile communications, or any other metered commodity or service). Different billing determinants may be calculated and different rates and charges may be applied depending on the products or services offered by the utility. The system and method of the present invention is based on a modular design that allows it to be adapted easily for special or complex billing requirements for any utility. Although the present invention has been described in accordance with example embodiments, it is understood that many modifications to the present invention may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A system for producing invoices comprising: a product allocation table comprising customer data, usage data, and special product billing data; a billing determinants table comprising data derived in accordance with data from said product allocation table; and an invoice painter for producing an invoice in accordance with data from said billing determinants table.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said special product billing data comprises billing products selected from the group consisting of advanced time of day, backup, interruptible service, buy-through provisions, cogeneration purchase, compliance demand determination, hourly transmission, maintenance, real time pricing, standard tariff rates, surplus/supplemental, and time of day.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said product allocation data comprises data selected from the group consisting of customer table, time period history, interval data repository, daylight savings table, hourly transmission schedule, backup, surplus and maintenance tables, holidays table, backup and maintenance hours used tables, peak periods table, and interruptions tables and prices.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said billing determinants table comprises demand information data, service delivery identification data, energy information data, and billing period data.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said invoice painter is adapted to produce an invoice in accordance with templates.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said usage data comprises data selected from the group consisting of electricity usage data, natural gas usage data, water usage data, oil usage data, gasoline usage data, telephone usage data, cable usage data, and mobile communications usage data.

7. A method for producing invoices comprising: transmitting customer data, usage data, and special product billing data to a product allocation table; processing said data in said product allocation table to create a billing determinants table; and producing an invoice in accordance with data from said billing determinants table.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein transmitting special product billing data to a product allocation table comprises transmitting data for billing products selected from the group consisting of advanced time of day, backup, interruptible service, buy-through provisions, cogeneration purchase, compliance demand determination, hourly transmission, maintenance, real time pricing, standard tariff rates, surplus/supplemental, and time of day.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said product allocation data comprises data selected from the group consisting of customer table data, time period history data, interval data repository data, daylight savings table data, hourly transmission schedule data, backup, surplus and maintenance tables data, holidays table data, backup and maintenance hours used tables data, peak periods table data, and interruptions tables and prices data.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein creating said billing determinants table comprises processing data to create demand information data, sen/ice delivery identification data, energy information data, and billing period data.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein producing an invoice comprises transmitting data to an invoice painter adapted to produce an invoice.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein said usage data comprises data selected from the group consisting of electricity usage data, natural gas usage data, water usage data, oil usage data, gasoline usage data, telephone usage data, cable usage data, and mobile communications usage data.

13. A method in a computer system for producing an invoice for a utility customer comprising: selecting an invoice template; displaying in a first page of said selected invoice template a plurality of billing determinants; selecting at least one of said plurality of billing determinants; and adding to a second page of said selected invoice template said selected billing determinant, said second page comprising charges applicable to said utility customer.

14. The method of claim 14 wherein selecting an invoice template comprises selecting an invoice template in accordance with the name of said utility customer.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said billing determinants comprise on-peak values, off-peak values, shoulder peak values, demand values, billing period data, buy-through values, backup values, maintenance values, and surplus values.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of deriving said billing determinants from product allocation data.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said product allocation data is selected from the group consisting of customer table data, time period^' history data, in'ter al 'data repository data, daylight savings table data, hourly transmission schedule data, backup, surplus and maintenance tables data, holidays table data, backup and maintenance hours used tables data, peak periods table data, and interruptions tables and prices data.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein said utility customer is selected from the group consisting of electricity customers, natural gas customers, water customers, oil customers, gasoline customers, telephone customers, cable customers, and mobile communications customers.