Service Providers Are Linked To Service Agreements
The following diagram illustrates a customer's bill for electric service in a deregulated market. Notice that there are separate sections for energy, distribution and meter service.
Consolidated billing. The following is an example of a bill that consolidates charges from many service providers. Rather than receive a consolidated bill, it is possible for the customer to receive 3 separate bills, one from each service provider (we refer to this as Dual billing).
If we were to look at this customer's service agreement in the distribution company's CIS system, we'd find a service agreement for distribution charges, and linked to it would be information about the meter service and energy service providers:
If we look at this customer's service agreement in the energy supply company's CIS system, we'd find a service agreement for energy charges, and linked to it would be information about the distribution and meter service providers:
And finally, if we look at this customer's service agreement in the meter service company's CIS system, we'd find a service agreement for meter service charges, and linked to it would be information about the distribution and energy providers:
Bottom line. A customer's service providers keep track of the customer and each other in their respective CIS systems. A customer will have a service agreement (or the equivalent) in each service provider's CIS system. A customer's service agreement defines the service providers who supply each type of service.
Because information about customers and their services needs to be kept up-to-date in many different CIS systems, there is a need for automated communications between service providers. Refer to Service Providers Have To Communicate About Customers for more information.