Solar Messaging in Bill Forecast
Solar customers who navigate to the Bill Forecast tool in the Digital Self Service - Energy Management Web Portal can view information about their projected bill. The Bill Forecast shows customers standard information about their bill, which includes:
- Current usage or cost so far in the billing period.
- Projected usage or cost for the billing period.
- How the current and projected usage compares to their typical usage or cost for the period, based on their past usage.
This informs customers before the end of the billing cycle if they are likely to have higher usage or cost compared to the same time period from the previous year. Customers can then take action to reduce their consumption before the billing period ends.
For solar customers, the messaging displays the projected bill in terms of net energy usage. It also includes an explanation of charges for net energy usage, where they are applicable, how they accrue, and when they are due.
Depending on whether rates are modeled, customers will see one of the following views:
- Projected bill view
- Projected usage view
For additional information about the Bill Forecast tool, see the Oracle Utilities Digital Self Service - Energy Management Cloud Services Overview.
Requirements
This section discusses utility and customer requirements.
Utility Requirements
|
Category |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Required Cloud Services |
The following cloud services are required to view solar web features:
|
|
Scale |
No household restriction. |
Customer Requirements
|
Category |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Data Requirements |
AMI is 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
Net Metering customers will see a projected bill view and a projected usage view in the Bill Forecast.
Projected Bill View
If rate information is available, solar customers who navigate to Bill Forecast in the Digital Self Service - Energy Management Web Portal can view their projected bill for the current bill period.
For solar customers, this view provides additional solar messaging, which includes the following:
- Bill Period Date Range: The date range includes the entire billing cycle.
- Net Usage Insight: Below the comparison to last year's bill, a statement tells the customer how much net electricity usage they have incurred so far during the current billing period. For example, "Your net electricity use is about $80 so far this bill period."
- Disclaimer Statement: A statement that explains how the bill charges are accrued and when they are due.
The following image is an example of the Projected Bill view for Net Metering customers.
Projected Usage View
If rate information is not available, solar customers who navigate to the Bill Forecast tool in the Digital Self Service - Energy Management Web Portal can view their projected usage for the current bill period.
For solar customers, the Projected Usage view provides additional solar messaging, which includes the following:
- Bill Period Date Range: The date range includes the entire billing cycle.
- Net Usage Insight: Below the comparison to last year's bill, a statement tells the customer how much net electricity usage they have incurred so far during the current billing period. For example, "Your net electricity use is about 335 kWh so far this bill period."
- Disclaimer Statement: A statement that explains how the bill charges are accrued and when they are due.
User Experience Variations
This section describes how the Bill Forecast widget can vary for Net Metering and Net Billing customers.
Net Metering Annual Billing Customers
For annual billing customers, the Projected Bill view and Projected Usage view vary as follows:
- Bill Period Date Range: The date range includes the monthly billing cycle.
- Disclaimer Statement: One of these statement is used, depending on whether the true-up date is available:
- True-up date available: "Charges for net electricity use are not paid monthly. They accrue and will be due on [Mon DD, YYYY], the end of your billing cycle. Each month you pay only the service fee for electricity delivery."
- True-up date not available: "Charges for net electricity use are not paid monthly. They accrue and will be due at the end of your billing cycle. Each month you pay only the service fee for electricity delivery."
- Learn How Solar Billing Works link: This link can be included at the end of the disclaimer statement, and it will direct customers to the Solar Welcome Experience in the Data Browser.
Net Billing Customers
The Bill Forecast for Net Billing customers displays a cost view and a usage view. If cost is not available, then customers will see the Usage view (instead of dollar amounts, they will see kWh amounts). What customers see on their Projected Bill will change based on the bill period dates, the number of days into the billing period, data history, cost availability, and import/export values.
The following image is an example of the Cost view for Net Billing customers.
Note: The text outlined in green will change based on the bill period dates, the number of days into the billing period, data history, cost availability, and import/export values.
The following describes the sections of the Cost view as illustrated in the above image:
- Energy Usage Statement: A statement explaining that the amount of energy purchased and sold can fluctuate based on weather, and when and how a customer's home uses energy.
- Energy Usage Period: These dates represent the start date of the current bill period and the projected end date.
- Days Remaining Insight: The number of days left in the bill period.
- Energy Purchased Insight: The amount of energy purchased so far during the current billing cycle and the amount of energy purchased last year by the end of the equivalent billing period.
- Energy Sold Insight: The amount of energy sold so far during the current billing cycle and the amount of energy sold last year by the end of the equivalent billing period.
- Help Lower My Bill Button: This link opens the Ways to Save widget.
- Disclaimer Statement: A statement that explains that the amounts shown on the Bill Forecast tool do not include taxes and fees, and that the cost of electricity purchased and sold may change over time.