Bill Forecast Module

The Bill Forecast module informs customers how much their bill is projected to be by the end of the billing period. Dual fuel customers see a combined bill forecast for both electric and gas use. The purpose of the forecast is to encourage customers to lower their usage before the bill period ends.

Note:

The Bill Forecast module is not included in Cost Tracker Report emails, as this forecast is accomplished through the Cost Tracker module.

Requirements and Limitations

Requirements and limitations are as follows:

• Data History: The customer must have AMI data back to the beginning of the current bill period. One historical bill, from any billing period, is required to determine where the customer falls in the billing cycle for a given date.
• Data Coverage: The customer must have non-null reads for 75% of the total possible reads over both the last seven days as well as the total reads-to-date.
• Cost Information Automatically Displayed: Unlike other modules in the email, the Bill Forecast automatically displays cost information for eligible customers.
• Rate Modeling: Utility rates must be modeled by Oracle Utilities for cost information to appear. If rates are not modeled, energy use information is displayed by default. If the utility chooses to display cost information, rate modeling is required during initial program setup for an additional fee. See the Oracle Utilities Opower Rates Engagement Cloud Service Product Overview for more information.
• AMI Data Used: The AMI data used in the rest of the email is based on the data available as of Sunday, but the bill forecast in the email is based on the latest data available at the time that the email is generated. This may result in minor discrepancies between the bill forecast and the rest of the Weekly Energy Update.

User Experience

Bill to Date: The bill to date provides the current charges for a customer's bill so far in the billing cycle. Cost information is automatically displayed if rates are modeled.

Forecast Statement: The forecast statement projects how much the customer's bill could be if they continue their current energy-spending behavior through the end of the billing period. The forecast is based on the estimated length of the bill. Cost information is automatically displayed if rates are modeled.

Estimation Statement: It is clearly stated that the forecast is an estimate to assure customers that their actual billed usage amount may be different. The estimate does not include taxes and fees.

Days Remaining: The number of days remaining in the billing period is shown to reinforce the idea that the customer still has time to save energy.

Calculation: The forecast calculation relies upon Oracle Utilities Opower receiving a sufficient amount of energy use data for the customer. The customer must also meet the minimum eligibility criteria for the forecast, including the availability of at least one historical bill. At a high level, the bill forecast calculation involves the following steps:

1. Calculate the baseline cost that the customer pays for using energy.
2. Estimate the customer's billing period end date.
3. Calculate how much energy the customer has used to date.
4. Take the customer's energy use and project it forward to the billing period's end date.
5. Convert the resulting energy use values to cost values, based on the customer's rate plan. The output is an actual cost value (to date) and a projected cost value (going forward).