About Customer Settlement Transactions

Customer settlement transactions represent credits that will be applied to customer's bill based on all of the events in which the customer participated during a given time period. In other words, customer settlement transactions represent the total of all of the customer's event settlement calculations for a given time period.

Customer settlement transactions are created upon requests from a customer information system (CIS). Customer settlement transaction requests are sent in a file which is processed by a batch process which creates the individual customer settlement transactions.Customer settlement transaction requests include the customer contact or account or metered service, the program, the start and end date for the requested time period, and the type of request. These requests are typically sent on an annual basis (such as at the beginning or end of the year), but customer settlement transactions are also created in the following specific situations:

  • Final Bill: When a customer moves out or stops their service, a customer settlement transaction is created and applied to their final bill.

  • Re-Bill: When a customer is re-billed, the customer settlement transaction is recalculated for inclusion on the new bill.

  • Customer Unenrollment: When a customer unenrolls from a program, a customer settlement transaction is created and applied to their next bill.

Customer settlement transactions are created in the "Pending" state. Pending event settlement transactions are processed by the Process Customer Settlement (X1-PRCS) batch process which transitions them the "Calculate" state, in which all of the customer's event settlements for the requested time period are collated and totalized. These are then sent back to the customer information system for application on the customer's bill.

For customer settlement transactions for programs with an Event Settlement Calculation Method of "End of Season" (typically associated with demand-based programs), the Calculate Customer Settlement (X1-CALCCST) algorithm creates a "Combined kW Drop" event settlement transaction for the customer settlement transaction time period which calculates the average of a set of the "Maximum Drop" values from "Calculation Deferred" event settlement transactions that fall within the customer settlement transaction time period. The customer settlement transaction uses the results of the "Combined kW Drop" event settlement transaction. See About Event Settlement Transactions for more information about "Combined kW Drop" event settlements.

Once customer settlement transaction calculations are complete, they can be sent back to the customer information system for application on the customer's bill. See Downloading Customer Settlement Transactions for more information about how customer settlement transaction information is sent to the customer information system.

By default, the credits from customer settlement transactions are applied to the metered service for which they were calculated. However, in the case of a group of related metered services (such as a set of stores belonging to a common franchise), customer settlement transactions can be applied to a single "parent subscription" via the Settlement Aggregation Method (see below). "Parent" subscriptions are defined using the Settlement Group attribute on the Program Subscription. A program subscription's Settlement Group is a metered service associated with the program subscription's Main Customer, and is used to group program subscriptions for customer settlement transactions (see About Program Subscriptions for more information). "Parent" subscriptions are often used with demand-based programs for commercial customers where credits for overall demand reduction (based on "kW Drop" event settlement transactions) for a group of related accounts (metered services) are applied to the "parent" account.

Customer settlement transactions contain the following data:

  • Metered Service ID: The metered service (customer) for which the customer settlement transaction was run.

  • Start and End Date: The start and end date for the customer settlement transaction period.

  • Status: The current status of the customer settlement transaction.

  • Used on Bill: A flag that indicates (Yes or No) if the customer settlement transaction has been calculated.

  • Extract: A flag that indicates (Yes or No) if the customer settlement transaction has been extracted.

  • Customer Settlement Request Type: The type of customer settlement request. Valid options include Periodic, Final, Rebill, and Unenrollment.

  • Program ID: The program associated with the customer settlement.

  • Settlement Aggregation Method: A flag that indicates the method by which customer settlements are applied to customer accounts. Options include:

    • Individual: Indicates that customer settlements should be applied to the individual customer accounts (represented by metered services).

    • Grouped: Indicates that customer settlements should be applied to "Settlement Group" customer accounts (metered services specified as a Settlement Group on a program subscription).

  • Calculation Details:

    • UOM/TOU/SQI: The unit of measure, time of use period, and service quantity identifier combination used to define the interval usage values used in the event settlement transactions that comprise the customer settlement calculation

    • Customer Settlement Quantity: The total quantity on which the customer settlement is base

      • For customer settlements based on "kwh Avoided" event settlements, this is the consumption saved for the customer settlement, calculated by adding together the individual event settlement transaction "Consumption Saved" values
      • For customer settlements based on "kW Drop" event settlements, this is the average of the "Maximum Drop" values from the individual event settlement transactions

    • Total Actual Consumption: The total actual consumption for the customer for the customer settlement, calculated by adding together the individual event settlement transaction "Actual Consumption" values (applies only to customer settlements for consumption-based programs)

    • Customer Settlement Amount: The monetary amount for the customer settlement.

      • For customer settlements based on "kwh Avoided" event settlements, this is calculated by adding together the individual event settlement transaction "Event Settlement Amount" values.

      • For customer settlements based on "kW Drop" event settlements, this is the amount from the "Combined kW Drop" event settlement transaction.

    • Issues: One or more messages related to the customer settlement transaction.

  • Event Settlements: The event settlement transactions used for the the customer settlement transaction calculations

System Data

Customer settlement transactions are based on the following system data:

Data Type

Description

Maintenance Object

Usage Transaction (D1-USAGETRAN)

Business Object(s)

Customer Settlement Transaction (X1-CustomerSettlementTransaction)

Batch Processing

Customer settlement transaction processing is supported by the following monitor batch processes:

  • Process Customer Settlement (X1-PRCS): Used to transition customer settlement transactions in the "Pending" state to the "Calculate" state.

  • Retry Customer Settlement (X1-RTCS): Used to retry customer settlement transactions in the "Error" state.

Use the Batch Control portal to learn more about the parameters used by these batch processes.