Summary

The Service Rates window is used to create and maintain service rates and service rate revisions. Service rates are attached to customer accounts and determine the rate structure, winter average, taxes, bill type and prorating options of a billing. The service rate will calculate charges on the consumption on meters with the same bill type and the charges will be billed to the service attached to the service rate. Once service rates have been created they can be attached to customer accounts on the Service Rates tab of the Account Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Service Rates tab> Add a New Service Rate button).

There are no units of measure (gallons, cubic feet, etc.) attached to the service rate. The service rate will be applied to the consumption as it was read on the meters. For example, if there were 100 units of consumption read on the meter during the billing period, then the service rate will be applied to the 100 units regardless of the type of unit the meter was reading (gallon, cubic feet, etc.). If there are meters of multiple unit types in the same billing batch, or if the consumption should be converted to another unit type as the billing is being calculated, you can convert the consumption using the consumption conversion table (UB> Maintenance> Consumption Conversion).

When new bills are generated (UB> New Billing), there is a Convert Consumption To drop-down menu that allows you to convert the consumption read on the meters to a different unit type. The consumption will be converted to the unit type using the conversion formula set up in the conversion table (UB> Maintenance> Consumption Conversion), and the service rate will be applied to the modified consumption on the meter. For example, if the consumption was read in cubic feet and is changed to gallons, the consumption read on the meter (100) will be multiplied by the conversion amount (7.48000) and then the service rate will be applied to the modified consumption amount (748).

The Service Rate Maintenance window allows you to set up a separate rate structure for each usage period. Usage periods are typically used to charge UB customers different rates for peak and non-peak usage. Consumption is generally separated into the usage periods by the meter and then imported into the Springbrook application as separate consumption values when meter reads are imported (UB> Meter Management> Readings Import). For example, peak consumption is placed in usage period 1 and non-peak consumption is placed in usage period two. When a billing is generated (UB> New Billing), charges are applied to the imported consumption based on the unique rate structure of each usage period set up on the service rate. For example, if peak usage is usage period 1 and non-peak usage is usage period 2, the rate structure for usage period 1 will apply to usage period 1 consumption and the rate structure for usage period 2 will apply to usage period 2 consumption.

Step by Step

1     Open the Service Rates window (UB> Maintenance> Service Rate).

• The Service Rates window will display all of the service rates and rate revisions that have been created.
  • Service Rate revisions are modifications to an existing service rate that will take effect on a certain date, replacing the previous service rate revision.
  • New service rates are neither revisions of previous service rates nor service rates that have already been created.
• Click the Excel Export button to create an MS Excel spreadsheet of the information that displays in the window. This will create a list of service rates and the services they are attached to. You do not have to expand the services in order for the services attached to a service to display on in the export.
• The Overpay Percentage column will display the overpayment percentage amounts set up on the Service Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Service). Overpayments will be applied using these overpayment percentages if the UB module is set up to distribute overpayments based on fixed amounts (UB> Utilities> Setup> Payments tab> Overpayment Distribution field).
• Click on the Expand button next to a service to display the service rates attached to the selected service.
• Click on the Expand button next to a service rate to view all of the revisions attached to the selected service rate.
• Click DELETE to delete the selected service rate revision. If you delete all of the revisions attached to a service rate, the service rate will also be deleted.
  • You will not be able to delete a service rate that is attached to customer accounts.
• Click EDIT to open the selected rate revision.
• Click PRINT SERVICE RATES to generate a service report that includes basic information for the latest revision of each service rate within the selected service.
  • The service report will display the Rate Code, Description, Minimum, Tax Codes, and GL Accounts for each service rate included in the selected service. The report will also display Period, Level, and Rate information for each rate code.
• Click the Create Rate button or the Create Revision button to create a service rate or service rate revision.

2     Complete the General tab.

• The Service Rate Maintenance window is divided into four tabs: General, Cons Levels, Winter Average/Taxes, and Percentage Based Cons Levels.
  • The General tab contains all of the general information on the service rate.
  • The Cons Levels tab contains all of the consumption level breaks.
  • The Winter Average/Taxes tab contains the winter averaging periods and tax codes attached to the service rate.
  • The Percentage Based Cons Levels tab contains the rate tiers used to base the service rate on a percentage of Winter Average consumption.
• The Revision Number field will display the revision number of the service rate revision being created. If you are creating a new service rate, the Revision Number will be 0, because it is the initial revision number.
  • If you are creating a service rate revision, the Revision Number will be one plus the previous service rate revision on the service rate.
  • The value in the Revision Number cannot be modified.
• Enter a Service Code. The service code can be up to six alphanumeric characters long.
  • If you are creating a service rate revision, the Service Code field will be disabled and will display the service rate of the revision that you are creating. You will not be able to modify the value in this field.
  • After a service rate code has been created and saved, you cannot change the value in the Service Code field. If you want to modify the value in the field, you will have to create a new service rate code with the desired service code.
• Enter the Description of the service rate code. The description can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters long.
• Enter the Effective Date of the service rate. The effective date is the date the service rate revision will become active. If you are creating a new service rate code, the effective date is the date the initial revision of the service rate code will take effect.
  • Click the drop-down menu to select a date from a calendar.
  • If the effective date occurs during a billing, the consumption and minimum amount on the billing will prorate based on the effective date and the either the billing dates or the read dates on the account.
    • If the Prorate by read date toggle on the Service Rate Maintenance window is checked the billing will prorate based on the read date of the meters on the billing. For example, if meters are read on the 15th of each month and the service rate becomes active on the 11th, only five days of the billing will be calculated using the new service rate structure.
    • If the Prorate by read date toggle is not checked, the billing will prorate based on the period begin and period end date. For example, if the billing is for the 1st to the 30th and the new rate revision becomes active on the 11th, 2/3 of the consumption and minimum amount will be billed using the new service rate revision.
    • The Prorate consumption and Prorate minimum toggles do not have to be checked for the minimum and consumption to prorate based on the effective date of the service rate revision.
• Enter an amount in the Minimum field to specify a base or flat charge on the service rate.
  • If the Flat Rate toggle is not checked, the amount in the Minimum field will be treated as a minimum amount. This means the minimum amount will be charged and meter consumption will be included on the billing. For example, if $25 is entered in the Minimum field, the billing will charge the $25 as well as the consumption on the meters.
  • If the Flat Rate toggle is checked, the amount in the Minimum field will be treated as a flat rate. This means that the flat amount will be charged on each billing and the consumption on the device will be ignored. For example, if $25 is entered in the Minimum field and the Flat Amount toggle is checked, the consumption on the meter will not be included on the billing.
  • The minimum or flat amount will prorate on new and final billings depending on the other toggles checked on the Service Rate Maintenance window.
    • The following toggles affect how the minimum/flat amount will prorate on a billing:
      • Prorate minimum toggle
      • Prorate high toggle
• Enter the Unit Size. The consumption on the device will be divided by the value in the Unit Size field. The modified consumption amount will then be applied to the consumption level breaks.
  • The type of units that consumption will be measured in is set up on the device type of the device that is being used to read consumption (UB> Maintenance> Device Type - Electric/Water/etc.> Unit Type field).
• Click the Bill Type field label to select a bill type from a list.
  • The Bill Type field is important because it determines which meters on the customer account will be billed by the service rate. When bills are generated (UB> New Billing), the service rate will be applied to all meters on the customer account with the same bill type. For example, if you select “WATER” on the service rate, the service rate will be applied to the consumption on all meters set up with the “WATER” bill type on the customer account.
• Attach general ledger accounts to the service rate.
  • Click on the field label of the Revenue Account, AR Account or Cash Account field to select a general ledger account from a list.
  • By default, the window will display the general ledger accounts in the current fiscal year. If you are creating a service rate revision that will not become active until a future fiscal year, make sure that the selected GL accounts will be active in the next fiscal year.
    • If a selected general ledger account is not active in the next fiscal year, you may have problems when you try to generate charges on the service rate code.
• Attach a Budget Account to the service rate.
  • A budget account should be added to service rates that will be used in the Budget Billing process. This account records the difference between a customer's budget billing amount and the actual charge amount.
  • This account is intended to act as a liability account, recording the budgeted payment amounts that are initially higher than the actual bill amounts.
• Define how you would like to round the charges generated on the service rate code in the Round Amount To field. Rounding options are also set up on the UB module Setup window (UB> Utilities> Setup> Billing tab). The Setup window is used to round consumption and the amount billed on a service.
  • Enter 1.00 in the field to round the charges to the nearest dollar amount.
  • Enter 0.10 to round the charges to the nearest dime.
  • Enter 0.01 to round the charges to the nearest penny.
  • By default, 0.00 will be in the field.  Since the flat rate cannot be a dollar value less than a penny and the consumption will round based on Setup window (UB> Utilities> Setup> Billing> Consumption Rounding field), setting the Round Amount To field to 0.00 is the same as setting it to 0.01.
• The Convert Consumption To field is used to convert the units read on the meter to another unit set up on a conversion table. For example, if a water meter measures consumption in US gallons, but that consumption amount needs to be converted to cubic feet, a conversion value of 0.134 needs to be applied to the consumption value in gallons (1 US gallon = 0.134 cubic feet).
  • Select No Conversion to bill the service rate consumption as it is read on the meter. For example, if 100 units of consumption were read on a meter during a billing period, the service rate will be applied to those 100 units regardless of the unit type (gallons, cubic feet, etc.).
    • Units are attached to device types using the Water Meter Device Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Device Type - Water> Device tab> Unit Type drop-down menu).
  • Any conversion that is set up as a convert to value on the conversion table will display in the drop-down. For example, if Feet is entered in the Convert To field on the Consumption Conversion Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Consumption Conversion> Convert To field), the value will display in the Convert Cons To drop-down menu.
• The Percent Based On field is used to set up the service rate to calculate consumption based on a percentage of the Winter Average value.
  • If Winter Average is selected, the Percentage Based Cons Levels tab will be enabled. See step number 5 below for more information on setting up the rate tiers needed to calculate consumption based on a percentage of the Winter Average value.
  • By default, this field will be set to Not Used in order to prevent any impact on existing service rates.
• Check the Flat Rate toggle if consumption on the service rate should be ignored and the value in the Minimum field should be charged as a flat rate. When a bill is generated on a customer account, the consumption on the meter will not be billed and only the flat rate amount will display on the billing.
• The function of the Multiply Minimum, Multiply Consumption, and Multiply Consumption Level toggles depend on the selection in the Use Lot Units toggle.
  • If the Use Lot Units toggle is checked, the consumption or minimum amount on the service rate will be multiplied by the Number of Units field on the lot. You can view the Number of Units on the customer account (UB> Maintenance> Account> Lot tab> Lot sub-tab> Details section> Number of Units field).
  • If the Use Lot Units toggle is not checked, the EDU field attached to the meter on the account will be used. The meter EDU field is set up on the Connections tab of the Device Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Device> Connections tab> EDU column).
    • By default, the EDU column will not display on the Connections tab. Click the Columns drop-down and select the EDU field from the menu to display the column in the grid.
• Check the Multiply Minimum toggle if you would like the service rate minimum multiplied by the Lot EDU value or the Meter EDU value.
• Check the Multiply Consumption toggle if you would like the calculated winter average consumption to be multiplied by the EDU on the meter or the number of units on the lot when a billing is generated (UB> New Billing). The winter average consumption will be multiplied by the EDU/Lot Unit value before the service rate structure is applied to the consumption when the billing is calculated. For example, if the EDU is 1.1 and the calculated winter average consumption is 200, the winter average consumption will be multiplied by the EDU (220). The rate structure on the service rate will then be applied to the new consumption amount (220).
  • If the Use Lot Units toggle is not checked, the calculated winter average will be multiplied by the EDU value on the meter (UB> Maintenance> Account> Devices> Connections tab> EDU column). If the Use Lot Units toggle is checked, the calculated winter average will be multiplied by the number of units on the lot.
• Check the Multiply Consumption Level toggle if you would like to multiply the consumption amount of each level break on the rate structure of the service rate by the meter EDU or lot units. For example, if consumption between 0 and 1000 units is charged $.035 per unit and the meter EDU is 1.25, the rate structure will change to between 0 and 1250. The rate of $.035 will not change.
  • If the Use Lot Units toggle is checked, the rate structure of the service rate will be multiplied by the lot units.
  • If the Use Lot Units toggle is not checked, the rate structure of the service rate will be multiplied by the meter EDU (UB> Maintenance> Account> Devices> Connections tab> EDU column).
  • This toggle can be used in conjunction with the Multiply Consumption toggle if you would like the consumption amount and rate structure both to be multiplied by the meter EDU or the lot units.
• Check the Prorate Minimum toggle if you would like to prorate the value in the Minimum field. This will prorate the amount for final billings or new accounts within the billing period. This will enable the Prorate High toggle.
  • If you backdate a final billing from the Final an Account Wizard, you must have the Prorate Minimum toggle checked or the minimum amount will not prorate.
• Check the Prorate High toggle if you want to charge the full minimum charge amount if the consumption is greater than the first level break. If the consumption falls within the first level break, the minimum charge will be prorated by the percentage of the billing period.
• Check the Prorate Consumption toggle if you would like the consumption associated with the winter averaging process to be prorated by the percentage of period the rate was effective for.
• Check the Prorate Steps toggle if you would like the consumption amount level breaks associated with each tier of the service rate to be prorated by the percentage that the service rate was effective during the period. This affects the winter average process.
• Check the Bill greater amount flat or consumption toggle if you would like to bill the consumption or the minimum amount based on which is larger. For example, if the minimum amount is $45 and the calculated consumption on the service rate is $35, the customer account will be billed the minimum amount on the service rate.
  • When this toggle is checked, the customer will only be charged the minimum or the consumption amount, not both.
  • This toggle does not apply when the Flat Rate toggle is checked because consumption does not apply to flat service rates.
• Check the Allocation Rate toggle if the service rate should be used in Allocation Billing calculations. This will enable the Allocation Levels tab.
• Check the Bill all consumption at highest level tier toggle to bill consumption at the highest tier level that the account qualifies for based on that period's billing. When checked, the system will ignore lower level tier rates that the account would have qualified for through standard tiered consumption.
  • This toggle will be disabled when the Allocation Rate toggle is checked.
• Check the Container Rate toggle if the rate is used for containers. Containers are attached to accounts using the Containers tab on the Account Maintenance window.
• The Round Consumption toggle has not yet been implemented.
• Check the Group Consumption toggle if all consumption on the service rate should be billed under the first usage period set up on the Cons Level tab.
  • When this toggle is checked, the system will first calculate the total consumption across all time use periods set up on the Cons Levels tab. The billing engine will then calculate the service rate bill amount based on this total consumption and the rate specified on the first time use period set up on the Cons Levels tab.
  • This toggle is often used when setting up a taxation service rate.
• Check the Prorate by read date toggle if you would like the service rate to prorate based on the read date attached to the meter. The function of this toggle will affect the function of the prorate minimum, prorate consumption and prorate steps toggles.
  • For example, if the meter read date is 06/15/22 and the billing period ends on 07/01/22, the minimum amount or consumption will prorate based on the days.
  • If you do not check this toggle the service rate will prorate based on the connection date of the service rate.
• Check the Use Special Multiplier toggle if you would like the special multiplier attached to the customer accounts to affect the billable amount calculated on this service rate.
• When this toggle is checked, the billing engine will look to the Multiply flat by special multiplier and Multiply cons by a special multiplier toggles on the Billing tab of the Setup window to determine how the special multiplier will affect the billing.
  • Special multipliers are attached to customer accounts using the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Service Rates tab> Select a service rate> Special Multiplier field).
• Check the Use actual reading if winter average is not available toggle if you would like to bill the actual consumption on a meter if no winter average has been calculated on a UB customer account.
• Check the Multiply level by demand toggle if you would like the system to multiply the consumption level by the demand consumption value.
  • The Multiply consumption level toggle must be checked as well in order for this toggle to affect consumption calculations.
• Check the Multiply level by special multiplier toggle to multiply the service rate level by the multiplier set on the account.
• The Character fields are user-defined miscellaneous fields attached to the service rate.
  • The character field labels are maintained on the Miscellaneous Field Label Maintenance window (SS> Utilities> Miscellaneous Field Labels).
• Open the Cons Level tab to set up the rate structure of the service rate.

3     Complete the Cons Levels tab.

• The Cons Levels tab is used to enter consumption level breaks on the service rate. This is where the rate structure is set up on the service rate. If you are using multiple usage periods, you can enter a rate structure on each usage period.
  • Usage periods are generally used to charge separate rates for peak and non-peak usage. Each usage period will display as a separate line item in the window, and you will be able to enter a level break for each usage period.
  • If you are not using usage periods, a single line item labeled “1” will display in the window. The “1” represents the single usage period that will be used for all consumption read on the meter. Enter the level breaks in this single usage period.
  • Click the Expand button next to a usage period to display the level breaks set up on that usage period. The Expand button will only display if level breaks have already been added to a usage period.
  • Click the Add button to create a new consumption level break to the selected usage period. This will create a new line item under the usage period.
  • Enter the consumption level that you would like the level break to begin at in the Minimum Consumption column.
  • Enter the rate that will be applied to the consumption greater than the minimum consumption amount in the Rate column. This is the rate that will be charged on each unit of consumption after the Unit Size field (General tab on the Service Rate Maintenance window) and consumption multiplier toggles have been applied to the consumption.
  • Click the Add button to add the consumption level.

4     Complete the Winter Average/Taxes tab.

• Open the Winter Average/Taxes tab. The Winter Average/Taxes tab is used to attach tax rates to the service rate code and to select the calendar months that winter averaging will be used.
• Check the periods you would like to bill using the winter average rather than the actual consumption on the meter. UB customer accounts will be billed using the winter average amount calculated using the Winter Average process (UB> Winter Average) rather than the actual consumption on the meter. If a UB customer account attached to this service rate does not have a calculated winter average, the customer will only be billed the flat/minimum amount on the service rate.
  • Winter averages are generated on accounts by billing cycle in UB> Winter Averages.
• Check the Cap Consumption toggle to bill the lesser amount of the actual bill or the winter average consumption.
• The Tax Code field is used to attach taxes to the service rate code.
  • Tax codes are created and maintained on the Tax Code Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Tax Code).
  • Click ADD TAX to create a new line item in the Tax Code field and attach a tax code. This will open a window to select a tax code from a list.
• Click the Save button when complete to save the new service rate or revision.
  • Service rates can be attached to UB customer accounts using the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Service Rates tab).

5     Complete the Percentage Based Cons Levels tab (enabled based on General tab settings).

• If the Percent Based On field on the General tab is set to Winter Average, the Percentage Based Cons Levels tab will be enabled.
• This tab is used to set up rate tiers based on a percentage of Winter Average consumption. Agencies can use this functionality to encourage or discourage consumption that exceeds winter average levels by reducing or increasing the rate charged for that consumption.
  • Percentage based consumption levels will only be used to calculate billing amounts when the service rate is set up to use winter averaging AND winter averaging is being calculated for the current billing period.
  • If the service rate is set up to use winter averaging but winter averaging is not being calculated during the current billing period, the standard Cons Levels will be used to calculate billing amounts.
• Click the Add button to add a new consumption level to the data grid below.
  • The first consumption level added to the data grid will be assigned level number 1. Each subsequent level added will be assigned the next available level number.
  • The Minimum Percent and Rate fields can be edited on new or existing consumption levels.
    • Enter the percentage of the winter average value that you would like the level break to begin at in the Minimum Percent field.
    • Enter the rate that will be applied to the consumption greater than the Minimum Percent value in the Rate field.
    • Click the Add button to add the new consumption level to the data grid below.
    • By setting up the appropriate rate tiers, an agency can encourage or discourage usage that exceeds the winter average level.
      • For example, if an agency wanted to discourage citizens from using more water than the winter average amount, that agency could set up a very simple set of percentage based cons levels.

• In this example, an agency would charge the standard 1.50000 rate for all water usage from 0.00% to 100.00% of the winter average value.
• Water usage from 100.01% to 125.00% of the winter average value would be charged the higher 2.00000 rate.
• Any water usage above 125.01% of the winter average amount would be charged at the 3.00000 rate.
• A standard, single-level consumption rate of 1.50000 is used in order to provide a simple rate tier example. Organizations that use multiple consumption levels will need to set up a more complex set of rate tiers.

• Highlight a consumption level and click the Delete button to delete the selected row. If the data grid includes any other consumption levels, they will be automatically renumbered if necessary.
• Click the Save button when complete to save the consumption levels.

6     Complete the Allocation Levels tab.

• The Allocation Levels tab is used to associate Billing Calculations with consumption level billing tiers.
  • For each Consumption Level, the system looks at the Billing Rule on the level, then looks at the consumption, and if the consumption is under the amount in the Billing Rule, it will charge the rate on that cons level.
  • If the consumption is over the amount on the Billing Rule, it will calculate that overage in the next tier. If consumption is over the amount on the Billing Rule for that next tier, it will calculate the second overage on the third tier. And so on.
  • This tab is only enabled if the Allocation Rate toggle is checked on the General tab.
  • Click + ADD to create a new consumption level break.
  • Enter the Level Label for the consumption level.
    • This field is limited to 30 characters and all 30 will display on the Allocation Billing statement in UB> New Billing.
  • Enter the Rate for the consumption level.
  • Click the Add button to add the new consumption level the data grid below.
  • Click the Billing Rule search button to associate the consumption level with a billing calculation formula that will be used to calculate consumption.
    • Billing calculations are created and maintained on the Billing Calculation Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Billing Calculations).
  • Check the Top Level toggle on the highest consumption level. This will inform the system to stop consumption calculations beyond this level and to charge the top tier rate.
    • The top level does not need an attached Billing Rule as it will only be charged the specified rate.
  • Click the Save button when complete to save the Allocation levels.