Revenue Assurance for Electric Utilities

Transcription

1 Revenue Assurance for Electric Utilities Introduction The utility industry is undergoing major changes in the way electricity is produced, distributed and consumed. New Smart Grid and Smart Metering technologies are being introduced to improve Grid reliability and efficiency, reduce utility operation costs and enable the integration of renewable energy resources. While utilities expect to improve operational efficiency through these Smart Grid initiatives, they are also exposing their critical infrastructure to new Revenue Leakage and operational risks which must be proactively managed and controlled. The challenge Utilities are caught between two conflicting imperatives. On one hand they need to invest heavily in the Grid Infrastructure, and on the other hand, they must maintain profitability through improved efficiency. Smart Grid projects involve the deployment of new devices (Smart Meters, Distribution Automation, Communication Infrastructure), applications (DSM, MDM, billing systems), usage patterns (consumers becoming producers) and dynamic pricing. In the process of implementing these changes, the utilities are exposed to new revenue and operational risks, as a result of delays in entering new customers on the billing system, interval usage data generating dramatic increases in data volumes, inadequate metering/billing resulting from inaccuracies between time-of-use (TOU) pricing to usage data, integration issues between systems, tampering/bypassing of meters, etc. This creates five immediate challenges: Revenue Leakage: Utility Industry statistics indicate that Revenue Leakage ranges from 1-5% in developed countries and up to 20% in developing countries (see table Threats to the Utility Service Framework ) Smart Meter Program Adoption: Customers are sensitive about rate increases and erroneous billing, which can result in dissatisfied customers opting out of the Smart Meter program, as has happened in some North American utilities, risking the entire Smart Grid project Fraud Risks: The modernization of the Grid with new Smart devices and communication infrastructure adds new risks of fraud and tampering with Smart Meters and Billing systems

2 IT Integration Risks: Integrating between the multiple Smart Grid applications creates a significant challenge that involves preventing the loss of critical data and revenues Operational Risks: As utilities increase their dependency on Smart Meter reading for operational monitoring and control, technical and non-technical data losses and discrepancies between actual electricity usage and measurement, may cause critical operation issues and outages The Solution cvidya s MoneyMap Revenue Assurance platform, coupled with utility industry experts in Revenue Assurance and Fraud, provide a comprehensive solution to address utility Revenue Leakage and Operational Risk issues. The Revenue Assurance process includes the following phases: Process mapping Risk Analysis Automation Revenue Assurance Operation Revenue Optimization The complexity and magnitude of the utility meter-to-cache processes require a reliable, secure and scalable platform to address current and future utility revenue related processes. MoneyMap incorporates industry standards and vast deployment experience with large companies, and provides the automation requirements with the following key modules: Configuration - Provides data and process integrity by collecting and reconciling configuration information from external sources within the utility revenue chain (MDM, CRM, Billing, Logistics ERP, Accounting systems) Usage - Identifies Revenue Leakage along the Meter-To-Bill route by collecting and reconciling usage based information from different systems (Meter Collection and aggregation platforms, Billing systems) Rating and Billing Assurance - Verifies the rating and billing of all TOU rates and interval usage data, the critical step to begin managing demand and achieving the Smart Grid imperative of peak shaving

3 The Benefits Minimize Revenue Leakage and improve the top-line Proactively identify billing inaccuracies and avoid customer complaints Reduce operational risks Optimize TOU pricing and maximize revenue and margins while correctly managing demand Reducing non-technical losses by identifying meter tempering Identify cyber-security attacks on the billing system and avoid revenue and operational risks Complying to regulation and Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which includes lost revenue The cvidya Advantage Market leader in the Revenue Assurance and Risk Management domain Big Data capabilities and scalability to meet massive utility data Head the TMF Revenue Assurance group Extensive deployment experience with global Tier-1 operators that can be leveraged for utilities Industry certifications: TMF frameworx (SID & etom), TMF BMA, ISO risk management Deployed the largest Revenue Assurance project processing with more than 14B events daily Risk Assessment methodologies and comprehensive consulting services On-Site Managed Services, Hosted Managed Services and Cloud/SaaS deployment models Threats to the Utility Service Framework The Utilities Service Framework (life cycle) consists of a rich set of business activities and is thus affected by revenue threats (leakages, cost, fraud, operational, reputation, etc.). The table below outlines some of those revenue affecting threats mapped to Revenue Assurance, Fraud activities and IT Integration. Utilities Service Framework Business Process Activities Revenue Threats Offers & Products Management Rate plans & classifications Service policies Credit policies Campaigns Usage & Charge estimation/simulation Miscalculated charging Lower revenue margins Inability to manage Service breaches

4 Order & Provisioning Usage & Metering Billing Accounting & Finance Orders submissions Applicants approval Orders processing Rate classification Work orders Equipment allocation & installation IT provisioning Activation approval Meter reading Usage estimation Meters aggregations Bill cycle management Usage & non usage based bill processing Adjustments processing Late billing processing Manual billing Bills printing and mailing Bills to banks & credit agencies Payments Treatment of bad payments Submission to financial ERP (General Ledger) Internal financial reports External financial reports (to governing bodies) Subscription fraud Wrong credit vetting Policy violating contract Order/Provisioning misprocessing Provisioning latencies Equipment theft Internal fraud Inaccurate metering Lost meter readings Biased usage estimations Manipulated meters Energy theft (tapping) Internal fraud External hacking: data manipulation Inaccurate bill processing Missing accounts Lost usage or billable events Taxation errors Over or Under charging customers Lost billing files Missing invoices Internal fraud Lost payments Mistreatment of late or bad payers Inaccurate submission to financial ERP Low revenue margins Errors in financial reports Interconnection management Energy interconnection metering Energy reconciliation & dispute management Service Level Agreement monitoring Payments & Receivables Contract violations Compromised Service Level Agreement Misprocessed utilization reports/bills Reconciliation errors Over cost to peer Under payment by peer

5 Contractors Management Work orders Equipment allocation Workflow monitoring Service Level Agreement monitoring Payments Dispute management Contract violations Compromised Service Level Agreement Latencies Equipment over allocation Equipment theft Over payments Customers Management Service Level Agreement monitoring Customer complaints & inquiries Adjustments & Discounts Revenue Leakage Challenges and Solutions Contract violations Compromised Service Level Agreement Complaints Compromising adjustments Violating discounts (internal fraud) Solutions for Revenue Leakages Revenue Threats Usage deviations Non metered usage Contract violating usage Measures & Controls Trends analysis; thresholds; behavior analysis (per data modeling) Balance analysis Usage/bill comparison to contact (overall life cycle) Misprocessed metering collection Comparison and balance analysis Prepaid unbalances Misprocessed billing Balance integrity verifications (usage & deposits) Accuracy simulations; Completion checks (usage & non usage entities) Payments integrity (bad payments) Comparison and completion checks Reconciliation disputes with distributors Reconciliation disputes with contractors Compromised SLA (distributors, contractors) Balance checks Balance check; Completion checks; Punctuality checks Punctuality checks; Completeness checks Customers complaints (w/wo SLA) Trend analysis; Behavior analysis; Punctuality (per complaint checks and per data modeling) Violated assets (equipment, resources) Comparisons between ERP logistics (warehouses) and work orders status and customers assets

6 Solutions for Fraud leakages Revenue Threats Energy tapping Non metered usage Tampered meters Removed /tampered billing Contract violating usage Manipulated distributors/suppliers bills Energy arbitrage Manipulated contacts Violating adjustments Assets fraud Subscription fraud Prepaid fraud Measures & Controls Trends analysis; Thresholds; Behavior analysis Balance analysis Trends analysis; Thresholds; Behavior analysis Comparison and completion checks; Internal fraud analysis Usage/bill comparison to contact (overall life cycle) Balance checks Trend analysis; Threshold Internal fraud analysis Thresholds; trends analysis; internal fraud analysis Comparisons between ERP logistics (warehouses) and work orders status and customers assets; internal fraud analysis Holistic alias matching; finger printing Balance integrity verifications (usage & deposits) Solutions for Integration Leakages Revenue Threats Intra IT platform data discrepancies Incomplete customers information Duplicated customers information Measures & Controls Compare data between relevant IT platforms Verify completion of customers info Check for intra-it platform duplications Reports The following list outlines an example of the rich set of predefined reports provided by the cvidya Utilities solution. The MoneyMap provides a wide range of options for generating and scheduling an assortment of ad-hoc reports, all fully configurable by the users. Order entry and provisioning o Misprocessed orders o Delayed orders processing o Policy violating orders o Unfulfilled orders o Delayed provisioning

7 o Discrepant provisioning Usage and metering o Usage deviations (by customers) o Aggregated usage deviations o Biased energy estimations o Delayed/misprocessed meter readings o Metering grid s health report Billing & Accounting o Billing deviations (by data modeling) o Misprocessed billing o Payments deviations o Delayed (late) payments o Bad payments o General ledger discrepancies Customer management o Complaints o Complaint trends analysis o Complaint follow-up