The Big Picture of SA Relationships and Service Providers

You must set up service providers if companies other than your own provide a service to your customers AND you have some type of interaction with these companies. You will have one service provider for each such company. For example, if you are a distribution company in a deregulated market, you will have a service provider for each company that provides any of the following services:

• Energy (commonly referred to as Energy Supply Companies, Energy Service Providers, Retailers, and Suppliers)
• Meter service (commonly referred to as Meter Service Providers and Meter Agents)
• Meter reading (commonly referred to as Meter Data Management Agencies and Meter Reading Service Providers)
• Billing (commonly referred to as Billing Agents)

The topics in this section provide background information about service providers.

• Persons and Service Providers
  
• Service Providers Are Linked To Service Agreements
  
• Service Providers May Change Over Time
  
• How To Set Up SA Relationships On A Customer's Service Agreement
  
• When Your Company Is A Service Provider
  
• Service Providers Have To Communicate About Customers
  
• Relationships Between Service Providers
  
• A Service Agreement Can Have Many Types Of Relationships
  
• Billing Relationships
  
• Consumption Relationships
  
• Deposits Issues
  
• Credit and Collection Issues
  
• An Object-Oriented Perspective Of Service Providers
  
• How Do You Communicate With Service Providers?
  
• Off Cycle Switch