Bill Guide Bill Breakdown

The Bill Breakdown presents a detailed view of a customer's most recent energy bill, including the date range, specific charges, and total amount due. This information is meant to educate customers about their bill, reduce calls to the utility support center, and motivate customers to take preventive steps to lower their energy use before their next bill. The user experience varies slightly depending on which data transfer specification the utility uses.

Requirements

Utility Requirements

Same as described in Bill Guide.

Customer Requirements

Category	Description
Billing Frequency	Monthly.
Data Delivery Frequency	Monthly.
Data Requirements	Billing Data: Billed usage data from the utility is the minimum data requirement. Utilities can use one of two billing data specifications to transfer data to Oracle Utilities Opower: Legacy Billing Data Transfer: In this case, utilities must send data in the usage_charge field described in the Usage Fields specification. (Normally, this is an optional field.) Fields such as non-usage charges cannot be displayed. Billing Data Transfer (preferred): Utilities that use this specification can display the following additional information: Posted on date, past due charge, non-usage charges (such as taxes and fees), total due, and due date. Rate Plan Names: Rates modeling through the Rates Engagement cloud service is required to display rate plan names.
Data History	The customer must have at least one historical bill.
Data Coverage	Not applicable.
Supported Fuels	Electricity, gas, and dual fuel.

Limitations

The feature supports bill amounts that were estimated. However, there will be no indicator in the interface that the bill was estimated.

User Experience

This section describes the user experience for electricity customers whose rates are modeled and who are using the latest Billing Data Transfer specification in order to display non-usage charges.

Title: A title appears above the widget telling customers that the following information presents a detailed picture of their bill or usage.

Date Range: A date range for the bill period is displayed at the top of the breakdown so that customers have a time-based reference. The number of days in the bill period is also shown to give a more specific reference, and to help indicate why the bill might be lower or higher than their previous bill.

Posted On: This refers to the date on which the customer's bill was generated and posted to their account.

New Charges: This section displays money owed for energy use during the most recent bill period. For dual fuel customers, new charges for electricity and gas are displayed on separate lines. Within each new charges section, the following details are available:

• Usage Charges: Charges for energy consumed during the most recent bill period.
• All Other Charges: Charges that are not related to usage, such as taxes and fees.
• Rate Plan Names: If the customer's rates are modeled and rate plan information is available, each new charge summary displays the name of the rate plan that the customer is on. This is followed by a link to the Rate Comparison where customers can learn more about available rate plans that they can switch to.
• View Bill Statement: A statement appears at the bottom of the new charges section to encourage customers to view their bill for a more detailed breakdown of taxes, fees, credits, and other charges.

Rolled Over Charges: If applicable, this section displays outstanding amounts not paid on the account. Rolled over charges may include any fees or penalties the customer incurred, or remaining or unpaid bill amounts. If the rolled over charge is zero, then zero is shown in the interface.

Total Charges: This amount refers to the customer's current balance. It is a sum of past due charges (if applicable) and new charges. It includes the date on which payment is due.

View My Bill: This is a configurable link to take users to a utility-hosted system for presenting billing information. It requires discussion between the utility and the Oracle Utilities Opower Delivery Team to configure.

User Experience Variations

Legacy Billing Data

If the utility is using the Legacy Billing Data Transfer specification, then menus for Electricity Usage Charges and Gas Usage Charges from the most recent bill period are shown. These sections are followed by a New Usage Charges section, which displays a total of all usage charges, as well as a disclaimer about how taxes and fees are excluded. The breakdown does not include the following information: Posted On, Past Due Charges, All Other Charges, Total Charges, and Due Date.

Multiple Service Agreements

If a customer has multiple service agreements for a fuel type, the breakdown shows additional information about each service agreement when the menu is expanded for each set of charges. This state is available for single and dual fuel customers.

The details displayed for each agreement vary slightly depending on whether the utility is on the latest Billing Data Transfer specification or the Legacy Billing Data Transfer specification.

For example, if the utility is using the legacy specification, then the charges shown for each service agreement will not include taxes and fees. If the utility is using the latest specification, then customers will see a breakdown of usage charges and other all other charges.

Rates Not Modeled

If the customer's rates are not modeled, then the name of the customer's rate plan will not be displayed, and there is no link to learn more about rate plans.

Single Fuel

If the customer is single fuel, then the following differences apply depending on which data model is in use:

• If the utility is on the latest Billing Data Transfer specification, there will be one subsection under New Charges for the customer's single fuel type.
• If the utility is on the Legacy Billing Data Transfer specification, there will only be one [Fuel Type] Usage Charges section.