Maintaining Bill Segments

A bill typically contains one bill segment for every active service agreement linked to its account. A bill segment contains information showing how the segment was calculated and how it should be printed on the customer's bill.

The actions taken to create a bill segment are dependent on the service agreement's SA type. For example, a service agreement that charges for metered service is produced as follows:

  • The system calculates the amount of the commodity that was consumed; for example, the number of lamps, the number of gallons of water, or the peak kW. Refer to How The System Determines How Much Was Consumed for more information.

  • The service agreement's rate is applied to the amount consumed to calculate how much the customer owes for the service. A bill segment and a financial transaction are generated to reflect the results of this calculation. Refer to How Rates Affect The Information On Bill Segments for the details. Refer to Effective Dates & Price Proration for information about how the system prorates changes to rates and prices during a bill period.
Note:

SA type controls everything. The above points explain how a bill segment is produced for a metered service agreement. It's important to be aware that the system has other bill segment creation algorithms. For example, if the service agreement charges for a deposit, the system neither amalgamates consumption nor does it apply a rate. You may be wondering how the system knows which method to use? It uses the bill segment type on the service agreement's SA type. Refer to Designing and Defining Bill Segment Types for a description of the various bill segment creation algorithms that are supported in the system.

It's important to be aware that there are very few fields that are directly modifiable by a user. To modify most fields on a bill segment, you have to change source information (e.g., service agreement, rate, meter read) and then regenerate the bill segment. For example, if you want to change the rate used to calculate a bill segment, you must change the rate history on the respective service agreement and then cancel / rebill the bill segment. Refer to How To for step-by-step instructions that explain how to perform common bill segment maintenance functions.