The Big Picture of SA Relationships and Service Providers
You must set up service providers if companies other than your own provide a service to your customers AND you have some type of interaction with these companies. You will have one service provider for each such company. For example, if you are a distribution company in a deregulated market, you will have a service provider for each company that provides any of the following services:
• Energy (commonly referred to as Energy Supply Companies, Energy Service Providers, Retailers, and Suppliers)
• Meter service (commonly referred to as Meter Service Providers and Meter Agents)
• Meter reading (commonly referred to as Meter Data Management Agencies and Meter Reading Service Providers)
• Billing (commonly referred to as Billing Agents)
The topics in this section provide background information about service providers.