Summary

An exempt meter is a meter attached to an existing device meter to either subtract or add to the billable consumption on that meter. You can add a meter to another meter using the Attached Device tab of the Device Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Device).

The exempt meter can be added to the same account as the original device or attached to a different account. If both meters are attached to the same account, both meter readings will change to Billed when a New Billing batch is committed. If the meters are attached to different accounts, only the meter on the customer account included in the New Billing batch will be changed to Billed. This allows you to subtract the consumption of a subtract-type exempt meter from a billing so it can be billed separately. If both accounts are in the same billing cycle, the meter reading on the exempt meter will change to Billed because it was included in the New Billing batch.

Step by Step

1    Configure the exempt meter consumption option.

• Open the UB Setup window (UB> Utilities> Setup> Billing tab) to set up the exempt meters.
• The Exempt Meters Default drop-down menu is used to set up how you would like devices attached to a meter to affect a billing.
  • Select whether you want to Subtract or Add exempt meter consumption to billable consumption when a billing is calculated. This is only a default setting and can be overridden at the device level.
• Click the Save icon when complete to save the exempt meters settings.

2     Select the device attached to the desired UB account.

• Open the Device Selection window (UB> Maintenance> Device).
• The Device Selection window will display all meters that have been created in the Utility Billing module.
  • The Device Selection window will display devices created using the Service Request Input Wizard and devices created using Device Maintenance window.
  • The Device Selection window will also display devices that are not installed on customer accounts.
• Enter information into the Search Criteria section and click the Refresh icon to update the devices that display in the window.
  • If the orange Incomplete icon displays in the bottom right corner of the search window, all devices in the search have not been included in the window.
    • If the search contains many devices, the window may only display some of the devices in order to load the window faster.
    • Click on the orange Incomplete icon if you would like to load all of the devices in the window.
      • NOTE - Springbrook Cloud users will not be able to use the Incomplete icon   to display all of the available records. Data grid filters will need to be refined in order to display all records that meet the filter criteria. However, Springbrook Cloud users can generate a .csv file that includes all the records in the database that meet the specified filter criteria via a data grid export.
• Highlight a device and click the Modify icon to open the selected device. This will open the Device Maintenance window.

3     Add an exempt meter to the device.

• The Device Maintenance window will vary depending on the type of device being created and whether the device is installed on a UB customer account.
• The Attached Devices tab displays the devices that are attached to the selected device. The Attached Devices tab will only display if a device is installed on a customer account.
  • If the meter opened in the Device Maintenance window is an exempt meter, the Attached Devices tab will not display the device the exempt meter is attached to. The Attached Devices tab will only display exempt meters that are attached to the meter opened in the Device Maintenance window.
• Click the Create icon to add a meter to the device. This will open another instance of the Device Selection window.
  • Use the Search Criteria section to filter the displayed devices.
  • Highlight the device that you would like to attach to the account as an exempt meter. Click the Confirm icon   to return the selected device to the Attached Devices tab.
  • Once the exempt meter has been added to the account, you can select either Add or Subtract in the Add/Subtract column in order to specify how the exempt meter will affect billing. This field will default to the Exempt Meters Default specified on UB Setup.
• Click the Delete icon to remove an exempt meter from the open device. This will only remove the attached meter from the device, not delete the meter from the application.
• Click the Save icon to save the exempt meter to the UB account.

4     View the exempt meter on the UB customer account.

• Open the UB Account Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account) to display the exempt meter that you attached to a device.
• The Devices tab displays the devices attached to the lot on the UB customer account, the meters that are attached to devices (such as a subtraction meter), and the meter readings on those meters.
• The Devices section will display the devices attached to the customer account.
  • An Expand button will display next to a device if there is an exempt meter (a meter that either adds to or subtracts from the consumption on the meter) attached to the device. Click the Expand button to view the attached meter information. Highlight the attached meter and the Meter History and Meter Detail sub-tabs will populate with the information attached to the meter.
  • If you would like to manually modify the meter reading on an account, open the Device Maintenance window by highlighting a device and clicking the Modify icon.
• The Devices tab can also be used to create service requests that add, remove or change-out the devices on the lot. If you would like to modify the meter readings on a device or attach another meter to a device, you can open the Device Maintenance window of a meter from this tab to perform those tasks.