Recent Changes:
6.37 - Updated logic for Calculate Report so that Number of Days in Cycle was linked through customer location instead of transaction code
6.34 - Added ability to turn off proration for certain service codes and transaction codes

SmartFusion Modules -> Utility Billing

Introduction

SmartFusion has the ability to prorate metered and fixed services for final bill and new customers. Users can also turn on/off proration calculation for specific service codes and transaction codes.

Explanation

Prorating in SmartFusion utility billing is taking the number of days between the start and end date and multiplying that with the billed charge to get the prorated charge. Prorating only happens when a customer is being finalized or becoming a new customer. At that point, there is a certain number of days in that cycle that they should be charged for and this is why we prorate.

All utility billing proration occurs during the bill wizard bill criteria portion. The calculate report shows metered charges and fixed services report shows fixed service charges respectively.

Set up

There are four global utility billing options for prorating. These can be found in the Utility Billing System File > General, Bills tab.

  • Prorate tabled services for final bills
  • Prorate tabled services for new customers
  • Prorate fixed services for final bills
  • Prorate fixed services for new customers

Note: These options MUST be turned on to prorate charges in any capacity. The following options below will only work when the global options are turned on.

In addition to the global system options, there are two levels of prorating based on service code and transaction code.

Service Codes (Metered Service only)

Do not allow proration of charges for this service code - This option can be used to turn OFF prorating for metered services ONLY.

Transaction Codes

Do not allow proration of charges for this transaction code - This option can be used to turn OFF prorating for metered services and fixed services.

Note: Frequency of posting MUST be set up for proration to work with transaction codes specifically for prorating metered services. Frequency of posting is used in the calculation to figure out which billing cycle the transaction code belongs to. The billing cycle has a number of months to determine the total number of days in the cycle to prorate. This is not necessary for fixed services because the fixed service itself has a billing cycle associated to it.

Billing Cycle

Number of Months - This is used in the proration calculation. One month is equivalent to 30 days.

Rate Table (Metered Service only)

"Minimum Limit" Base Amount - The first based amount you see in the limit grid is the minimum limit based amount. This is the amount we use to determine the prorated amount.

Calculation

In general, there are many things that change what the end service charge will be when calculating utility billing service charge. This is calculation may or may not follow your particular scenario as it can be easily complicated by various system settings, customers states, and complicated rate table structures.

Listed below are some basic explanations of how to determine prorated charges depending on the situation. In all examples, we are assuming all global system options are checked on and the exclusion options on the service code and transaction code level are not checked.

Final Bill Customers, Metered Service

The customer must be in pending final status.

Start Date - This is the previous meter read date.
End Date - This is the customer's date finalized.
Amount Subject to Prorate (AStP) - This is the minimum limit base amount. The rate table amount for the customer depends on the customer's master and service code followed by transaction code. This amount does NOT include billed amounts due to total meter usage.
Total Number of Prorated Days (T#PD) - Days in between start date and end date.
Cycle Days - Based on this transaction code's frequency to post billing cycle. The billing cycle number of months amount multiplied by 30 will get you total number of prorated days.

Example

Start Date = 5/2/17
End Date = 5/23/17
AStP = $17.75
T#PD = 5/23/17 ~ 5/2/17 = 21 days
Cycle Days = 1 month = 30 days

Proration Calculation = 17.75 * (21/30) = 12.425 => $12.43
Billed Charge (doesn't go over minimum limit amount, usage charge = $0) = 0 + $12.43 = $12.43
Final Bill Customers, Fixed Service

The customer must be in pending final status.

Start Date - This date is equal to the last billed transaction date. The last billed transaction date can be determined on the transaction report, skipping to the most recent transaction that has also been billed. If no billed transactions are present, proration does NOT occur.
End Date - This is the customer's date finalized.
Amount Subject to Prorate (AStP) - This is the fixed charge amount. Fixed charge calculation logic applies. For example, if your fixed charge base amount is $25 and the fixed charge amount is $17.75, the fixed charge amount is going to be the sum of that, $42.75.
Total Number of Prorated Days (T#PD) - Days in between start date and end date. Note: Dates are inclusive so we add 1.
Cycle Days - Based on this fixed code's billing cycle. The billing cycle number of months amount multiplied by 30 will get you total number of prorated days.

Example

Start Date = 5/12/17
End Date = 5/23/17
AStP = $42.75
T#PD = 5/23/17 ~ 5/12/17 + 1 = 12 days
Cycle Days = 1 month = 30 days

Calculation = 42.75 * (12/30) = $17.10
New Customers, Metered Service

In general, the customer has to be in pending new status. The customer can also be in active status and get prorated amounts as long as they do NOT have an existing bill past the customer's start date.

Start Date - This is the customer's start date.
End Date - This is the current meter reading date.
Amount Subject to Prorate (AStP) - This is the minimum limit base amount. The rate table amount for the customer depends on the customer's master and service code followed by transaction code. This amount does NOT include billed amounts due to total meter usage.
Total Number of Prorated Days (T#PD) - Days in between start date and end date. Note: Dates are inclusive so we add 1.
Cycle Days - Based on this fixed service's billing cycle. The billing cycle number of months amount multiplied by 30 will get you total number of prorated days. Customer Number of Units - This is the number of units on the customer location.

Example (including customer number of units)

Start Date = 9/4/17
End Date = 9/7/17
Customer Number of Units = 10
AStP = $10
T#PD = 9/7/17 ~ 9/4/17 + 1 = 4 days
Cycle Days = 1 month = 30 days

Proration Calculation = $10 * (4/30) * 10 = 13.33333 => $13.33 
Billed Charged (including usage charge of $50) = $50 + $13.33 = $68.33
New Customers, Fixed Service

The customer has to be in pending new status.

Start Date - This is the customer's start date.
End Date - This is the current billing date.
Amount Subject to Prorate (AStP) - This is the fixed charge amount. Fixed charge calculation logic applies.
Total Number of Prorated Days (T#PD) - Days in between start date and end date. Note: Dates are inclusive so we add 1.
Cycle Days - Based on this fixed service's billing cycle. The billing cycle number of months amount multiplied by 30 will get you total number of prorated days.

Example

Start Date = 9/4/17
End Date = 9/14/17
AStP = $25
T#PD = 9/14/17 ~ 9/4/17 + 1 = 11 days
Cycle Days = 1 month = 30 days

Calculation = 25 * (11/30) = 9.16666 => $9.17

Advanced Calculation Topics

Listed below are a few other additional complexities regarding proration calculation and some information about them.

Number of Units (Customer Location) - The number of units is part of the proration calculation. This amount is multiplied with the proration charge. An example of this is given above for new customer, metered service. When we round can change how this is effected

Wrong Example

Calculation = $10 * (4/30) = 1.33333 => $1.33 * 10 = $13.30

Correct Example

Calculation = $10 * (4/30) * 10 = 13.33333 => $13.33

Minimum Multi Unit Rate Table - May cause the prorated charge to be less than expected.
REU - The REU amount is added to the prorated charge amount if the number of REU is greater than one.
Change IN / OUT customer - This changes the way we calculate and may effect certain things like dates when prorating.

Additional References

Simple Test Plan for Utility Billing Proration