Customer Experience
High Bill Alerts AMI inform customers before the end of a billing cycle that they are likely to have high use or a high bill for the current billing period. Customers can then use the tips provided in the alert to reduce their consumption before the billing period ends.
Channels: Alerts can be sent through the email, text message, voice message, and mobile push channels, unless noted for a particular type of alert. A utility can specify which customers are eligible to enroll in alerts and the channels by which they can receive those alerts.
Cost Information: Cost information can be included in the alerts if a utility's rates have been modeled. This means that the cost of energy use, and the calculators used to generate that cost, are modeled in the Oracle Utilities Opower system. As a result, the alert changes to display the increase in energy use in terms of cost. Utilities can also choose to display a cost range.
Budget Billing: Some alerts may display a message that the customer is on budget billing. Budget billing is a type of billing in which the customer pays a set amount of money each month for their bill. The utility will look at the amount the customer spent last year, add a percentage to this amount to cover the cost of inflation, and divide the amount over twelve months.
Personalized Threshold: The personalized threshold allows the customer to set a minimum usage or cost that they must reach before they receive a high bill alert. This threshold applies to all alert channels. More information about personal thresholds can be found in the Bill Forecast Module topic.
The following alert types are available: