How to enter a bill

Enter bills into UtilityManagement

• Manually one by one.
• With a Bill Import File you can enter multiple bills with one file.
• With the Bill CAPture Service.

Where can you enter a bill?

• Use the plus sign (Create dialog).
• In the Bills module on a bill list.
• From any meter or account with the Actions menu.
  

Steps to manually enter bills

1. Click Create (the plus sign) and then Enter Bills (or Enter a New Bill from a Bill List).

2. Search for the account.

Use your mouse or keyboard to select an account from the list.

3. Select account.

Add a new batch or select a pending batch.

Search Again for another account or Cancel if you choose the wrong account.

4. The start date of the bill is the end date of the previous bill.

If a previous bill exists in your database, the start date is populated for you. The start date is the end date of the previous bill. This avoids gaps in your bill history. The start date can be updated.

5. Enter the End Date or the Number of Billing Days.

After the start and end dates are entered, the account history and trend charts are visible for each meter. If an account memo is in effect it is shown.

6. Enter required bill header information.

Enter all the required bill header information (all inputs with a yellow asterisk). The amount of required information in the bill header is configurable in the Bills module menu.

7. Enter bill details.

Enter the details from the bill into UtilityManagement.

Keyboard tips

• No commas needed or permitted.
• Dates can use slash, period, or hyphen as a separator.
• If the bill is for the current year, no need to type the year.
• Use the tab or enter key to move through the bill.

Add bill line item

Occasionally you may have a line item on your bill that isn't represented on your UtilityManagement bill. If this happens you can add a bill line by clicking Edit Bill Lines (pencil).

The application notices your bill format has changed and asks if you want to keep this new format.

Apply bill format options

If you change the bill lines for a meter you have the following options:

• Use for this bill only (new bills are not be affected).
• Use this format for all new bills for this meter.
• Use this format for all new bills on this rate schedule.
• Select specific meters on the rate schedule to use the format.
• Account line items are not copied.

Add account bill lines

Account bill line items are charges that may not be part of your bill entry format. A charge is typically assigned at the account level when it does not have a link to the use or demand on the bill. To add account charges click Edit Account Bill Lines (pencil).

Add a bill note

A bill note adds a message to the bill. A purple dot signifies the bill has a bill note. Click the Note tab and type your message.

Examples

• Water leak caused an abnormal bill.
• Corrected bill from vendor because of defective meter.
• This bill included setup fees for new meter.

8. Save.

If your bill fails a bill audit you have two options when saving the bill.

Save and Flag the Bill - use this option to review and resolve the flag at a later time.

Save and Resolve the Flag - after reviewing your data and determining the bill is correct you can resolve the flag and save the bill. A record of all flag actions is on the Flag Details tab of the bill.

9. Green banner confirms results.

Use the links to review your bill, the current batch, or the account. If you are ready, search for your next account and enter your next bill.

Empty lines not saved

While entering billing information, if a line has no value it is not saved and does not appear when you view the bill.

For example, if the electric usage kWh is left blank this line does not appear after the bill is saved.

View bill history

Bill history pop-out

Example bill history pop-out.