Solar Messaging in Bill Comparison
The Bill Comparison allows customers to compare their last bill to their previous bill, or to the corresponding bill from the same time period the previous year. Comparing bills is a useful way for customers to track their energy use and identify possible causes for an increase or decrease in their bill. Within the standard Bill Comparison experience, solar customers see messaging and information specific to solar billing and production.
The messages provide acknowledgment that the customer's electricity account is connected to a solar account. The information also helps to educate customers about solar billing, easily directing them to relevant information, such as the solar features on the Data Browser, when they access the Bill Comparison tool.
Requirements
This section discusses utility and customer requirements.
Utility Requirements
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Required Cloud Service |
The following cloud services are required to view solar web features:
|
| Scale | No household restriction. |
Customer Requirements
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Data Requirements | AMI data is recommended, and enables more functionality, but is not required. |
| Data History | For the Solar Savings Insight to display, at least six months of billing history prior to becoming a solar customer is required. |
| Supported Fuels | Electric |
User Experience
For solar customers, the Bill Comparison tool provides the following solar-related information:
- Want to Learn More Statement: This statement prompts users to click the associated button to learn more about their solar account.
- View Your Energy Use link: Customers who want to learn more about their energy use can click this link to access additional information in the Data Browser. For solar customers, this information includes solar-related data.
For additional information about the Bill Comparison tool, see the Oracle Utilities Opower Digital Self Service - Energy Management Overview.
The following image is an example of Bill Comparison for Net Metering monthly billing solar customers.
User Experience Variations
This section describes how the Bill Comparison widget varies for Net Metering annual billing customers and Net Billing customers.
Net Metering Annual Billing Customers
For Net Metering solar customers who are billed annually for net electricity usage, the View Your Energy Use link is removed from the bottom of the widget, and is replaced with the following:
- Due Date Statement: Your monthly electricity charges accrue and will be due on Mon DD, YYYY.
- Learn How Solar Billing Works link: When a customer clicks this link, they are taken to the Solar Welcome Experience in the Data Browser.
The following image is an example of the Bill Comparison widget for Net Metering annual billing customers that highlights the Due Date statement.
Net Billing Customers
For solar Net Billing customers, the View Your Energy Use link and the Learn How Solar Billing Works link are removed from the bottom of the widget and the following sections are added:
- Rollover Credits Statement: A statement indicating the customer's current bill has more credits or less credits applied compared to their last bill.
- Comparison Statement: A statement that tells the customer if they purchased more or less electricity and sole more or less electricity compared to their previous bill. Customers can click Details to expand a new section that shows bar graphs for Electricity Purchased for the current and previous bill, and Electricity Sold for the current and previous bill.
