Utility Billing Module
This module is used for calculating and billing metered utilities to tenants. Each month meter readings are entered and the utility consumption charges are automatically calculated and billed to the appropriate tenants. Reports, invoices, and statements are produced.
Important: Before starting your Utility Code setup please be sure to have the Regular Charge Codes setup that you wish to use in billing the utilities. See the Help files if you need more information on how to setup Charge Codes.
Step 1 – Utility Billing Code Setup
Search for an existing code or click on the Add New Database Record on the toolbar to add a new Utility Code.
Type in the new Utility Code – example Gas or Electric.
Enter a Utility Description for your Utility Code.
Select the Regular Charge Code you wish to use when billing this utility to tenants.
Enter A, B, or C or a number that will be used for the sorting order of your Utility Codes when creating batches for multiple Utility Codes.
This is used if you have more than one utility service being billed from the same meter. Select an existing Utility code from the drop down list.
A good example of this would be a water meter where your water bill includes a sewer charge based on the water usage. In this case you would setup the water Utility Code with the water rates first. Then you would setup a separate Utility Code for the sewer and sewer rates. The Sewer code would have a Reading Source of the Water code. This means that the Sewer code will look to the Water code for the Meter ID’s and consumptions.
Enter the multiplier used to convert the meter consumption to the units of measure, if applicable.
Enter the number of decimal places you would like the consumption rounded to (1, 2 or 3)
Enter the unit of measure i.e. cubic meters or feet, kilowatts etc.
Utility Code Rates & Charges section.
The program will process the Consumption Charges only if there was an increase in the meter reading, i.e. if there was actually consumption.
Enter the start date of this rate (should be prior to your next utility billing period)
This can be left blank and will be filled in when the rates change.
Enter a description for your Basic Charge.
Enter a description for your Basic Charge.
Enter the charge description you want to appear on the invoice
Select from drop down list: Consumption, Flat Rate or Percentage.
Consumption will take the total consumption and multiply it times the rate for each line entered here.
Flat Rate will charge what is entered in the rate column
Percentage will charge the percent entered in the rate column on all the charges calculated up to the line with the charge type as percentage. Enter 10% as .10.
Enter the rate
If you use tiered charges, click on the Tiered Charges Tab.
Enter the start date of this rate (should be prior to your next utility billing period).
This will be left blank until the rates change and you enter a new rate record.
If there is a basic charge amount enter it here.
Select either Graduated or Standard from the drop down list.
Enter your own description for the tiered processing charge.
If there is a minimum tiered charge enter it here.
When rates change you will need to enter the end date on your existing Utility Code and then add a new rate record by clicking the arrow with the asterisk at bottom left of your screen.
If your meter reading covers a time period that contains a rate increase the calculation will be handled automatically by the system and prorated accordingly.
Step 2 - Unit/ Utility Xref Rapid Setup
This is where you setup the meters, meter readings and last read date for each unit.
Select a Building from the drop down list.
Enter a description such as Unit # or Lot #. If the unit has a default address the Unit Description will not be added to the Service Address that is created.
Select a Utility Code to process from the drop down list.
Clicking the Generate Utility Codes button will create a record for each unit in the building. You can edit the address if needed.
If you do not want a record for all the units, delete the unnecessary ones by clicking in the gray box on the left hand side, so that the entire line is blackened. Then either click the "X" on the toolbar or hit the Delete key on the keyboard. A pop-up message will appear to confirm the deletion.
Enter the Meter ID. Units that are left with blank information will appear on reports with blanks.
Enter the Last Reading
Enter the Date last read.
Click Close Window to exit this screen.
Step 3 - Enter / Process Meter Readings
Defaults to today’s date. Change if required.
Defaults to today’s date. Change if required.
Enter date of current meter reading.
Click on this button to create a new batch. (Ignore the Readings Entered, Consumption, and Charge fields, as the system will calculate these totals after you enter the meter readings.)
Select the building(s) and utility code(s) you want to process. You can do more than one building or code in a batch but these should all have the same "Service To Date". Click on the "!" button to process.
When complete, click on the Close Window button to return to the Edit Batch screen, and then click on the Enter Detail Button. You will see that the records have been created for you for the current meter readings.
Enter the meter readings as a whole number, no decimals. The Conversion Factor under the code set up will determine the number of decimal places for the meter reading.. The system will not allow you to enter a meter reading equal to or lower than the previous reading.
If the meter reading is the same as the previous month, the system will not allow a meter reading equal to the previous reading. Therefore, delete the tenant’s line from the batch by clicking on the grey box to the left of the tenant’s line, so that the ? symbol appears, and then clicking on the Delete key on your keyboard. This will delete the tenant from the current billing, but the tenant’s name will reappear on the list to enter next month’s meter reading.
If this is a final billing for one tenant, delete all other records from the batch. Otherwise, the Service To date will be updated for all the other tenants as well. To delete a record, click on the gray box to the left of the record to highlight the entire row and then hit the Delete key on the keyboard.
Close the Window to go back to the Batch screen
Print Reports
Select to Print the Service Address (default), the Tenant Name, or Both.
There are a variety of choices for reports. Be sure to print the Invoices, as they cannot be reprinted after the batch is posted. Selection of any of the Tenant reports will allow you to enter a message to be printed on the Tenant Utility Bill.
In the Navigation Pane click on Building
In the Select a Report list click on Utility Billing
Select from a variety of Utility Reports