Customer Service Glossary

	Customer Service Glossary
Term	Definition
Abandon rate	Percentage of inbound calls abandoned over incoming calls offered to customer reps. We ask for two measures: All calls abandoned as a percent of all incoming calls offered Live calls abandoned as a percent of live incoming calls offered Do not include calls blocked at switch and/or limited calls if any. Calls abandoned within a reasonable period of time, 5 seconds, should not be counted as abandoned or handled calls.
Accounts	Active accounts in your system. An account is typically used for billing purposes. We will use accounts as the definition of customers.
ACD (Automatic Call Distributor)	Answers calls and puts (routes) the call in a pre-specified order in the line or queue of waiting calls, delivering calls to call handling agents in the pre-specified order. Provides the means to specify the possible variations in the order of calls and agents. Also provides the data for detailed reporting on every aspect of call transactions.
Adherence (in Contact Center)	Pertains to adherence to schedule. Contact Center agents sticking to the schedule established by center management. Includes being on time for scheduled work start, break start, break end, other scheduled actions. Most current scheduling software has reporting tools that can track this in centers.
Administrative support	Unlike technical support, administrative support refers to a task that is required in all processes. It is generic in nature and is (for the most part) interchangeable between functional areas. This category includes all secretarial FTE as well as accounting and reporting activities that are decentralized in a specific activity, treatment of basic business information, scorecards, etc.
AMI or SMART Meter	Metering that has a core functionality of intelligent, fixed-network style meters with two-way communication that can be read remotely (not including mobile AMR).
AMR — Automated Meter Reading	For the purposes of this survey, we have defined this as drive-by van technology. One-way communications with the meter, without any ability to remotely disconnect, or do anything beyond very efficiently reading the meter.
Appointment Integrity	Meeting appointments within the appointment window – percentage of time when appointments are met.
Automated Clearing House (ACH)	Automated Clearing House (ACH) is the name of an electronic network for financial transactions in the United States. ACH processes large volumes of both credit and debit transactions which are originated in batches. ACH credit transfers include direct-deposit payroll payments and payments to contractors and vendors. ACH debit transfers include consumer payments on insurance premiums, mortgage loans, and other kinds of bills. Businesses are also increasingly using ACH to collect from customers online, rather than accepting credit or debit cards.
Average Age of Receivables	(Accounts receivable at the end of a month x 30)/revenues in that month. To get the true annual average, the 12 monthly figures should be averaged.
Average Hourly Rate	Ideally this will be calculated by taking the hourly rate of all employees in that group and dividing by the total number of employees. This should include all FTEs in that particular staffing category whether company or contract. This should only include direct labor FTEs.
Average speed of answer (ASA)	Average speed of answer for a call answered by a company rep, after the call leaves the VRU. Do not count abandons as completed calls. We capture both ASA without Self-serve (IVR) and blended with IVR.
Behavioral Scoring	Behavioral scoring is a form of credit scoring used to track the payment behavior of customers after they become customers of the utility.
Bill counts	Count one per customer, even if multiple commodities or multiple meters at a premise (e.g. a “consolidated bill”). If a summary bill is produced (e.g. usage at multiple locations is summarized), count each individual location as a bill, as well as the summary bill. Count any e-bills sent, but do not double count any mailings. If you send both paper and electronic, count as one bill. Include any final bills sent in this count.
Billing activities	Include all billing activities regardless of paper or electronic bill. Bill calculation should be included. FTEs handling billing exceptions, bill adjustments, bill calculations, etc. are part of billing organization.
Billing Clerk	Front-line worker who reviews bills for accuracy, and investigates problems with them. Job might include correcting bills before sending to customers, approving them for issuing to customers, or correcting for re-issue following a cancel/rebill.
Billing Engine	Unique system that is used to bill customers. Receives, validates, processes customer billing information in order to bill/invoice the customer. The main CIS would be considered one. Often companies have separate systems to handle special billing, customers or rates.
Billing Error Rate - after mailing	Account errors or adjustments needed that are identified after the bill is delivered to the customer. A change that affects multiple months is still considered one adjustment. Does not matter if the account is re-billed or just adjusted on a subsequent bill. The adjustment may not be the company’s “fault”. Errors are anything that need to be corrected. Exceptions include planned manual adjustments.
Billing Error Rate - Before mailing	Errors found "before" a bill is mailed to a customer, typically through a sample search or found during pre-bill audit. Errors are anything that need to be corrected.
Billing Issues (in Contact Center)	Customer issues related to a bill. Examples include: perceived high bill, incorrect bill, duplicate bill, inability to understand bill, etc.
Blocked calls	Inbound calls that are purposely prevented (“blocked”) from entering the ACD or telecom switch by management discretion or, in some cases, trunk capacity limitations. These calls would not therefore enter the call answering queue and not be seen as offered calls for handling. 1QC adds these in the total abandoned call count as these are calls that distort the true inbound call volume and do not allow the customer to contact the company in the call attempt
Business Contact Center	Business Contact Center, incl smaller and mid-sized business customers. For purposes of contact center or call split definition, the business contact center should handle small and mid-range business customers. Should not include Key Accounts or Large C&I customers that may typically have their own assigned account representatives, teams, or group. Companies vary in how they define smaller and mid size customers, some using kW others revenue or meters, so 1QC has not applied a rigorous definition but rather asks the participants to provide a reasonable definition based on their organization
C&I Customers	Commercial and Industrial Customers
Call Split	A routing division in the ACD that allows calls of certain transaction types to be answered by specific groups of employees. Also called a group or a gate. Call splits should be measurable
Can’t Get In (CGI)	Field situation where a field worker or meter reader cannot access the premise or meter to do the assigned task. Reasons include: customer not home, no access provided or access blocked, such as a key issue or no keys, meter cabinet locked. May result in a need for a second visit by the worker.
Cashiers	Staff in local offices that only take payments from customers and don't perform any other activity. These employees should be counted as part of payment processing rather than local office.
Change of Account	New customers, moving customers, turn-ons/turn-offs due to customer relocation, not due to credit issues.
Check 21	The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (or Check 21 Act) is a US federal law that allows the recipient of a paper check to create a digital version, thereby eliminating the need for further handling of the physical document.
Collection agencies: primary, secondary, tertiary	Collection agencies are hired by utilities to collect bills after the utility has exhausted internal collections approaches. Primary agencies are the first placement of the bad debts, and they are typically allowed a fixed period of time to attempt collections prior to the debts reverting to the utility. Secondary and then later, tertiary agencies are assigned the bills to attempt collection.
Collection Agency	Company to whom customer accounts are assigned for collection, most often after the utility has failed with internal collections efforts. Typically no payments are made unless the agency successfully collects bills.
Collection Agency cost	Includes fees paid to collection agencies for collection of overdue bills, whether they are calculated as a % of the bills collected, or as straight charges from the collection agencies. Include any collection agency or skip trace costs in contracted services
Company Labor Costs	Include Direct, Support, Supervision, Management. Cost of employees; includes paid non-working time (e.g. vacation, sick, etc). Does not include labor overheads (e.g. payroll taxes, benefits) or other department’s allocated charges. If a supervisor or manager spreads their time over multiple departments, then provide an allocated portion of their costs to the function. If someone works outside of CS and is applied as a corporate allocation charge, exclude them in labor costs. For support, include those people who are directly part of customer service but cannot be allocated to a specific function.
Consolidated bills	A bill that shows energy usage as well as charges for other services that the utility offers.
Contact Center	The Contact Center and Multi-Channel Contacts Section covers every interaction with customers except Meter Reading, Field Service and Credit Outbound Calling and includes the following areas of interest. - Use of contact Centers - Use of Local Offices, - Use of the IVR - Use of Internet and Multi-Channel (e-mail, fax, mail) - Use of proactive Outbound Calling (e.g. outage restoration etc.)
Contact Center - Primary and Secondary	Delineation 1QC seeks to make in understanding the primary and secondary physical locations a company operates for their contact centers. Primary should be the main, largest or home site or sites, with secondary the smaller or satellite sites that are operated. Both types should be full time and company staffed. Some companies, particularly those in recent mergers may call more than 1 location a “primary” center.
Contact Center Contacts	A completed customer call, local office transaction, IVR, or internet transaction. Do not include uncompleted transactions (e.g. abandons). Do not include general switchboard informational calls. The following is a description of types of transactions included: - *New Customer/Turn On/Off/ Change of Account [excluding credit related turn on or off or any meter install] = A customer request for a turn-off of an existing account; a new customer requests a turn-on of an account. - Billing issue (such as High Bill) = Any contact related to billing amount such as inquiries, adjustments, and high bill complaints. - Make Payment (Pay Bill) via these channels = Include contacts for live call or other channel debit or credit card payments, IVR, electronic check payments, web. - Credit [payment arrangement, credit extension, etc] = Any contact related to a past due notice, including payment arrangements and reconnect of service - Report Gas/Water Leak or Electric Interruption/Outage = A contact about an electrical outage, gas leak, water leak or other premise-related issue of this nature. - Sign up for E-bill= customer signs-up for electronic billing - Sign up for other/additional commodity services/Dereg= customer signs up for other services or supplier - Provide meter read= customer provides meter read - Low Income Assistance= customer or agency contacts regarding low-income assistance programs or enrollment (could include HEAP, LICAP, etc) - General Company Information= customer contacts regarding general company info such as hours or operation, contact information, department phone number etc - Get Account information= view bill, view usage - Other = Miscellaneous contacts that cannot be categorized into the categories provided - Blended transaction**= customer contact where more than 1 transaction is conducted
Contact Center employees	Include employees in both the call center and local office
Contact Center Service Measures	These measures should be a blended rate between company and outsourced call answering. They should exclude credit calls.
Contract Labor Costs	Individuals (not firms) contracted to perform a specific role (including temps, seasonal)
Contracted Services Costs	Companies contracted to perform a specific function such as meter reading, overflow call centers, debt collection, etc. The cost of any contract or outsourcing services. Do not include any capitalized costs for IT services. Do include 3rd party back-up; disaster recovery
Convergent Billing	Bills with multiple services included, e.g. metered usage, area lighting, cable TV, etc.
Corporate or Corporate Function	Includes functions managed and providing services for the whole of the organization. Examples include: Shared Services, Human Resources, Accounting, Information Technology etc.
Credit Inbound calls	Calls from customers to create payment arrangements, make delinquent payments, or otherwise handle overdue accounts. Part of Contact Center costs
Credit Office Activities	Notices issued, determination of disconnections and reconnections, payment arrangements when handled in the credit area (separate from contact center), outbound calls, policy development and execution - Include any collection agency or skip trace costs in contracted services - Only include credit postage if a separate credit mailing, otherwise put in billing. - Include outbound credit calls - Include credit scoring transaction fees - Credit & Collections field activities should be included in Field Service - Bankruptcy
Credit Outbound calls	Calls made by the company to remind customers to pay their overdue bills, make payment arrangements, etc. Part of Credit & Collections costs
Credit postage	Costs of sending out reminder notices for slow-paying customers. Only include if a separate credit mailing, otherwise put in billing.
Credit Scoring	This is a service purchased from a vendor who maintains credit records on individuals, not specific to utility payment behavior. Typically used at the time when a customer signs up for service with the utility
Customer counts	Customer count differences 1. Accounts: The number of accounts in your billing system. An account with electric and gas meters gets counted once. 2. Commodity: Roughly represents the number of meters on your system. Where an account with both gas and electric would get counted as one account, for commodities it would get counted as two customers. Exceptions: there are unmetered items and meters that are not counted (such as streetlights). 3. Internal: The count you use internally to represent the number of customers you have. This is the one typically reported on annual reports and other documents.
Customer Service Complaints	Complaints regarding billing, collections, account management, contact center etc
Customer Service IT	The activities associated with operation and maintenance of the Customer Information System (CIS)
Daily Rate	Assumes 250 days per year
OSHA DART Rate	OSHA lost work day rate includes every non-fatal occupational injury or illness which involves restriction of work or motion, and/or transfer to another job (DART). It measures the total OSHA lost work day case recordable injury and illness cases based on the exposure of 100 full-time workers, using 200,000 hours as the equivalent (or 100 full-time employees X 2,000 hours per employee per year). The measure is calculated as: Total of OSHA lost work day cases X 200,000 / Total Hours Worked.
Days Sales Outstanding	A measure of the average number of days that a company takes to collect revenue after a sale has been made. A low DSO number means that it takes a company fewer days to collect its accounts receivable. A high DSO number shows that a company is selling its product to customers on credit and taking longer to collect money. Average Month-end Accounts receivable / total annual revenues x total days.
Demand Meter	Demand meters are a special type of meter typically found on larger commercial buildings and industrial facilities. The term "Demand" refers to the peak power requirement for a given time interval. Most utilities measure and subsequently invoice their "demand customers" for the highest 15 minute or 30 minute demand interval in a month. MV-90 meters are an example of this type of meter.
Direct Debit	Customer has arranged with the utility have their payment automatically deducted from their bank account
Direct Labor	A person having direct interactions with a customer or with a customer account is considered direct labor. A person whose task is directly in line with the mission of the process. Everyone else is either supervision or support. Use the 50% rule (see FTE definition) if they divide their time, if not 50% to a specific function, then charge to support. (3/11/08)As a rule of thumb, when the work will affect a customer file or when it has an effect perceptible by a customer or a group of customers, this FTE will be classified as Direct Types of direct labor (by function): - Contact center: taking calls, responding to correspondence, email, handling walk-in traffic - Meter reading: meter readers; mobile AMR van drivers - Field service: representatives in the field collecting payments, disconnecting customers - Billing: people handling exceptions, in-depth bill investigations, summary or consolidated bill preparation - Payment processing: people handling payment exceptions, lost or misapplied payments - Credit and Collections: people making outbound calls regarding credit issues; making payment arrangements with customers; issuing accounts for collections (does not include people making policy decisions.
Distribution or other Operational Complaints	Complaints regarding outages, power quality, maintenance, tree trimming, street lighting, new business installation
Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP)	Electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP), the process by which companies bill customers and receive payments electronically over the internet. There are two types of presentment models: · Direct Model: a biller delivers the bill to customers via its own web site (e.g. utility web site) or via a third-party's site. · Consolidator Model: bills from multiple billers are delivered to a single web site, to be presented in aggregate to the consumer for viewing and payment (your bank web site is a good example)
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)	The transfer of structured data, by agreed message standards, from one computer system to another without human intervention.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)	Electronic funds transfer or EFT refers to the computer-based systems used to perform financial transactions electronically. The term is used for a number of different concepts: - cardholder-initiated transactions, where a cardholder makes use of a payment card - electronic payments by businesses, including salary payments - electronic check clearing
Electronic Payment	Electronic payment is the means by which companies receive payment over the internet. In the survey 1QC has differentiated 3 means of electronic payment: · Payment through Utility website (whether or not a 3rd party is used to process the payment) · Direct debit, automatic bill pay, pre-authorized payment (utility goes and gets the money from customer) · Customer sends you the money via LIHEAP, ACH, EDI, Checkfree, or customer pays through their bank
Email/ fax/ letter	Contacts initiated through email, fax or letter from the customer.
Estimated bill	A bill that has been estimated by a billing system using an algorithm stored in the computer system, or by a person, whether it is a meter reader or a billing employee. It is typically based upon previous usage, or usage at similar customer locations. An estimated bill error can be created by a mistake in the algorithm for automated estimates, or by a mistake made by a person in the case of a person estimating the usage.
Extended shift [beyond regular shift]	Someone who can be placed on an extended shift, longer than 8 hours. Should not be included in Full-time
FCR (First Contact Resolution)	First-Contact Resolution (FCR) is the percentage of initial contacts that do not require any further contact to address the customer reason for calling/contacting. The customer does not need to contact the company again to seek resolution, nor does anyone within the organization need to follow-up. Ideally, first-contact resolution should be defined from the customer perspective.
Field Credit Orders	Credit disconnections and reconnections, notice delivery, field collections. These should be included in Field Service, not in Credit
Field Service	The primary organization where your short-cycle customer and field order activities are housed. Field Service focuses on activity at the meter and includes: - Billing Issues -- High bill investigation in the field, either customer or internally initiated, check read, rereads, meter tests in conjunction with investigation, meter change out in conjunction with investigation - Change of Account - Credit disconnections and reconnections, notice delivery, field collections - Seasonal turn-on/turn-offs - Dispatch associated with all service orders What’s not included - Gas odor response - Programmatic meter change-outs or tests - Revenue Assurance orders (e.g. remove meters, install locking rings, etc.) - Meter installations at a brand new service location - Restoration Specialists (e.g. Electric Troubleshooters) - Energy efficiency activities (typically part of Marketing Department) - Linemen, Line construction or O&M
Field Service – 1) Order Scheduling	The scheduling of a specific order to be done at a particular or specified time. This is the first step in the order management process as defined by 1QC. It does not include the assignment of the order or the issuance or dispatch of the order, simply the scheduling. Orders can be scheduled for example as same day, current (with a specific date) or future (known to be scheduled for a future time but with out a specific date)
Field Service – 2) Order Assignment	The assignment of a scheduled order to a worker (or work group), geographic territory and skill set. This is the second step in the order management process. It does not include the issuance of the order to a worker and the workers tasks for a day or shift.
Field Service – 3) Order Issuance/Dispatch	The issuance of a scheduled and assigned order to a specific worker or work crew in the field. The best example of an issued order would be an order that is in the hands of the worker (or on his/her mobile device) to be handled and completed. 1QC uses issued and dispatched synonymously
Field Service – 4) Order Handling/Completion	The last steps in the order management process. The worker handles the issued order and either completes it or updates the status if unable to complete (UTC, CGI etc.) The completion process includes documenting all the appropriate work information required to complete the order for field purposes
Field Service Billing-related activity	Includes high bill investigation in the field, either customer or internally initiated, check read, rereads, meter tests in conjunction with investigation, meter change out in conjunction with investigation. Do not include field generated or programmed meter change-outs.
Field Service Order – Completed Orders	An order that was issued and dispatched to the field and completed as per the requirements of the order in the appropriate field order management system, as well as the close-out of the order and submission of completion information to the CIS. Completed orders DO NOT include CGI or UTC orders) A trip to a service location that involves multiple commodities (e.g. gas and electric change of account) is considered as multiple trips. If multiple activities are performed at a location, count as only one trip. The types of orders are as follows: - Billing = High bill investigation in the field, either customer or internally initiated, check read, rereads, meter tests in conjunction with investigation, meter change out in conjunction with investigation - Change of Account = Soft Connect/Disconnect (e.g. Read in or read out); Hard disconnect/reconnect (e.g. physically turn off service). Does not include a new meter set. - Turn-on/turn-off for seasonal customers - Field Credit = Leave notice, collect payment, disconnect for non-pay, reconnect after a disconnect - Do not include field generated or programmed meter change-outs.
FS Order: Assigned	An order has been assigned to a Field Rep/Worker, but is yet to be issued/dispatched.
FS Order: Attainment	Measure for the orders issued and completed against established standards which include time (day or appointment), completion (not including CGI or UTC). This is a measure used by both planning and field resources.
FS Order: Completed	An issued/dispatched order has been completed. The field activity assigned for that order has been performed. A completed order does NOT include an order where something occurred that prevented the order from being performed, including a CGI or UTC.
FS Order: Issued/dispatched	An order been issued/dispatched to a Field Rep/Worker for completion
FS Order: Scheduled	Order has been scheduled to be completed. The order is yet to be assigned and issued/dispatched
Gas service (leak, odor, pilot or appliance)	Report a gas service leak, odor or request for pilot light
General Company Information	Get addresses or phone numbers, Annual reports, educational materials
Get Account information (view bill, view usage)	Get information about address or phone number stored with account. View bill, bill history, usage.
Hard Disconnect	A physical disconnect meaning that one of the commodities is physically turned off
Hard to Read (aka Hard to access)	These are meters that are hard to access and are often missed. They are not the same as meters that are behind locked doors or in basements but to which you regularly have access. Defined by the utility.
In-person contact	Typically walk-in traffic to a local or business office.
Internet/Web contact	Log-ons to account or hits to a specific type of page (includes pages that provide information that avoid a phone call). Include only transactions and look-ups that come in through the Customer Service portion of your website. So look-ups or activities/transactions that take place on the corporate site or T&D portions of the website should not be included.
IVR (Interactive Voice Response)	A telephone interface as a front end to the ACD that allows the customer to enter and gather information from the customer system through either a telephone keypad or spoken word (voice recognition) to complete a transaction. The IVR gives access and takes in information, performs record keeping, and can typically execute transactions
IVR call – company; IVR call – outsourced provider	Is any call handled completely by the IVR over the phone. This is separated between calls handled by company vs. contractor reps. Some of the IVR calls are transactions, some are just information. Both should be counted. Include only transactions and look-ups that last more than 3 seconds in the IVR. If someone abandons from the IVR before 3 seconds those calls can be excluded.
Level bill/pay – adjusted regularly	Utilities are not consistent with the use of these terms. One utility’s “balanced billing” is another utility’s “level pay plan”. There are however two types of plans: One adjusts the bills regularly (monthly, quarterly, annually) to account for actual usage but the bill is usually fairly consistent from month to month. The other sets the same bill for every month and has only 1 annual true-up payment.
Level bill/pay – true-up bill issued	For our purposes we have called them both “level bill/pay” and added the clarification “adjusted regularly” and “true-up bill issued” to separate the two.
Limited calls	Inbound calls that have passed the ACD but end up disconnecting on the caller after they have passed a call volume threshold or have been programmed to do so, usually once the caller receives a message to call back at a later time. These are not virtual hold calls and are normally not considered abandoned (as they were not abandoned by the caller). 1QC adds these in the total abandoned call count as these are calls that distort the true inbound call volume and do not allow the customer to contact the company in the call attempt
Live call - company; Live call - outsourced provider	Live call is any call handled by a customer service representative over the phone. This is separated between calls handled by company vs. contractor reps.
Local office	Local offices are places staffed by utility employees where customers can pay bills or perform other transactions. Typically we consider Local Office an extension of Contact Center. So FTEs, activities, and costs are captured in the Contact Center section of the questionnaire. This excludes cashiers who typically only take payments and are part of the Payment Processing function. see Cashiers
Lockbox	In general, a lockbox is P.O. Box that is accessible by the bank or outsourcer. A company may set up a lock box service with a 3rd party for receiving customers payments. The company's customers send their payments to the P.O. box. Then the 3rd party collects and processes these payments directly depositing them to the company's account.
OSHA Lost Workday Case Rate	OSHA lost workday case rate includes every occupational injury or illness that results in a day away from work due and/or fatality. It measures the total OSHA lost workday case recordable injury and illness cases based on the exposure of 100 full-time workers, using 200,000 hours as the equivalent (or 100 full-time employees X 2,000 hours per employee per year). The measure is calculated as: ((Total of OSHA lost workday cases plus fatalities) X 200,000) / Total Hours Worked.
Low Income Assistance	Request application, additional information, contact numbers or addresses to sign up for low income assistance
Major Event	These are typically defined by each utility's distribution department. Often this requires that a large number of customers will be out of service for more than one day.
Manual Payment Processing	Refers to large amounts of payment processing done manually by local office reps or cashiers. Does not refer to one-off types of processing handled by contact centers or when image processing fails.
Materials Costs	All cost associated with the function, including any warehouse/purchasing charges. A few items, such as postage are called out in a separate category. Includes cost of envelopes, paper, and ink. Should especially be included for Billing, Payment and Credit.
Message	Any form of written communication to customers of delinquent status. Could be letters, e-mails, or door-hanger notices.
Meter Read	Scheduled meter reads. If multiple meters are read at a premise, count as multiple reads. Include AMI/AMR, but only count one read per month for billing purposes. Trips to take a reading for a change of account or as part of a billing investigation (e.g. re-read) should NOT be included, instead these are in Field Service.
Meter Read Error Rate	Number of errors identified through the billing system before the bill is mailed, plus errors identified by the customer, as a % of total meter reads
Meter Reading	Regular monthly Manual reads; AMR/mobile reads; AMI/Fixed network reads, primarily for billing purposes. Does not include check reads, re-reads, etc., which are included in Field Service.
Meter reading window	Typically a meter is assigned to be read on a particular day, but if the meter reader misses the meter for some reason they usually have a 2-3 day window in which to gather the read
Meter Shop	Typically employees who handle commercial or industrial meters; programmatic meter change outs
Missed read	A meter that is not read on the day that it is assigned (even if read within the read window)
Mobile App	Mobile application is application software used for handheld devices such as personal digital assistants or mobile phones. These applications are either pre-installed, downloaded by customers from various mobile software distribution platforms, or web applications delivered by the web
Moratorium	Used to refer to the time period during a year where the utility may be prevented by regulation for executing its full range of credit collections activities (e.g. terminating customer’s service for non-payment, etc.)
Multiple commodity bills	A bill for a single premise that reflects usage from meters for multiple commodities.
MV-90	MV-90 is a solution for interval data collection, management and analysis and can be used as a data collection engine that interfaces to existing data management and analysis tools, or as an end-to-end interval data collection and management solution.
Normal billings	Anything paid on-time is paid through normal billing. Anything paid late is considered part of the credit process.
Occupancy (in Contact Center)	The percentage of scheduled work time that employees are actually handling calls or in after call work mode. Does not include time waiting for calls. The % is often called the “occupancy rate”
OMS	Outage Management System
Other Costs	Other miscellaneous costs not specifically broken out.
Outage/interruption reporting	Report an electrical outage, flickering lights, or an interruption to gas or water service
Outsourcing	Outsourcing includes the complete turnover of the activity to a third party company, so that the day-to-day activities are not controlled by the utility company. Outsourcing in utilities has grown from meter reading, outbound calling, and collection agencies to include call centers, billing operations, payment processing, and other activities.
Pay bill	Use contact center to pay bill
Payment Agency, Payment Station	Agency is a manned facility owned and operated by someone other than the utility where a customer can pay a bill. Station is a kiosk or ATM-style machine where a customer can pay a bill without interactions with a person.
Payment Arrangements – Broken	A broken payment arrangements is one where the customer didn’t pay AND didn’t set up a new arrangement OR exceeded the number of arrangements/re-arrangements possible
Payment locations	Payment agencies; local offices, pay stations
Payment Posting accuracy	Payments that have been posted accurately to the right accounts as a percent of all payments
Payment Processing Clerk	Front-line worker who processes customer payments. Includes standard processing of ordinary payments, as well as investigating of payments which cannot be matched with a bill or an account.
Payment Processing, Payments	Payments processed should roughly equal bills issued. Multiple checks for one bill are considered one payment. One check for multiple bills counts as multiple payments. Include all payments whether sent via mail, paid in local office, payment agency or pay station, paid on-line or through IVR or call center. See Manual Payment Processing See Cashiers
Pensions & Benefits Adder	The standard % that you use in your internal calculations for labor overhead costs. Measured as a % of straight-time labor costs.
Percent Past Due 60 Days	Percent of bills unpaid at 60 days. Note for most utilities this is balance due at second bill.
Planned Estimate	Any estimate that is regularly scheduled such as billing monthly and reading bi-monthly.
Postage Costs	Cost of mailing bills and credit notices. Prepaid envelopes if used for payment processing.
Pre-bill audit	A pre-bill audit may result in "no error". So Errors found are a subset of the pre-bill audit.
Productive time	Walking between or driving between meters (moving within the route), reading meters are included in productive. Driving to and from the route is excluded from this measure.
Provide meter read	Use contact center to provide a meter read
OSHA Recordable Injury Rate	This measure includes every occupational death, every non-fatal occupational illness, and every non-fatal occupational injury which involves one or more of the following: loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, transfer to another job, or medical treatment (not first aid). It measures the total OSHA recordable injury and illness cases based on the exposure of 100 full-time workers, using 200,000 hours as the equivalent (or 100 full-time employees X 2,000 hours per employee per year). The measure is calculated as: Total Number of OSHA cases X 200,000 / Total Exposure Hours.
Regulated Complaints	Complaints to regulators or the equivalent if you aren’t regulated.
Remote Deposit	Remote deposit refers to the ability to deposit checks into a bank account from one's home or office without having to physically deliver the actual check to the bank. This is typically accomplished by scanning a digital image of a check onto a computer, then transmitting that image to the bank--a practice that became legal in the United States in 2004 when the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (or Check 21 Act) took effect. This service is typically used by businesses, though a remote deposit application for consumers has been developed. It should not be confused with - Direct deposit, which refers to the practice of posting an employee's weekly earnings directly to his or her bank account - - Online deposit, which refers to a retail banking service allowing an authorized customer to record a check via a web application and have it posted, then mail in the physical check, giving the customer access to the funds before the check clears in the usual way. While this type of service does not involve a scanner nor take advantage of the Check 21 Act, it is also sometimes called remote deposit.
Revenue Protection	Revenue Protection activities vary greatly among utilities, depending on a number of factors, including commodities offered. The broadest definition (sometimes referred to as Revenue Assurance) includes both office and field activities surrounding these types of revenue loss: - Energy theft (aka diversion, unauthorized usage): 1) Meter tampering; 2) Meter bypass; 3) unauthorized attachment. - Fraud (aka identity theft): Field investigation and back billing related fraudulent names, and passing accounts among roommates to avoid bills. - Billing Problems: Field investigation and back billing for 1) usage on unmetered accounts, 2) usage on inactive accounts; 3) Meter errors (stopped or broken); 4) Not in system; unknown user; 5) crossed meters - Other activities/technologies: 1) Data mining to identify suspicious usage patterns; 2) AMI tamper - Also see unbilled revenue in billing; account initiation in call center; billing investigations in field service; impact of revenue protection on write-offs in credit
Revenue Protection Cases	Reported by any person: meter reader, customer, data mining Investigated to see if there is a case (leads to confirmed case or no case) Confirmed case that will have some action taken: billed, disconnect, other
Rural	Fewer than 50 people per square mile
Service Level (in Contact Center)	1QC defines as “x% of calls answered in Y seconds” See the Contact Center Section for how this is measured and variations e.g. with or without IVR etc.
Service Level: Calls answered within __ seconds	Percentage of calls answered by a company rep within specified time period. Include abandons in the total calls offered (the denominator), but do not include in calls answered (numerator).
OSHA Severity Rate	This measure includes every non-fatal occupational injury or illness which involves one or more of the following: restriction of work or motion and/or transfer to another job. It quantifies the severity of OSHA incidents that have occurred by looking at the number of lost workdays that can be attributed to an OSHA incident, based on the exposure of 100 full-time workers (using 200,000 hours as the equivalent….or 100 full-time employees X 2,000 hours per employee per year). The measure is calculated as: Total Lost Work Days due to OSHA recordable incidents X 200,000 / Total Exposure Hours.
Shrinkage	Usually used as a Contact Center term to capture the amount of paid time that is not spent handling customer contacts for those employees who’s assignment it is to do so. Calculated as hours paid but not logged-in to answer calls divided by total hours paid. Shrinkage can have the components of time at work but not logged-in, time off due to illness, time off due to FMLA. Usually expressed as a percentage.
Sign up for E-bill	Use contact center to sign up for electronic billing. Can be a call to rep or handled through IVR or internet
Sign up for other/ additional commodity services / Deregulation	Use contact center to sign up for additional services offered by the utility. Can be a call to rep or handled through IVR or internet
SMS/Text Messaging	Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices
Suburban	Between 50 and 500 people per square mile
Summary bills	A bill that shows the usage and amounts due for multiple locations and multiple meters.
Supervision and above Staff categories	Only include Supervisors, Managers, or Directors who spend at least 50% of their time overseeing that function. Management who spend less than 50% of their time on a function should be excluded from the count. So someone spending 100% of their time overseeing both Meter Reading and Field Service would be counted as 0.5 FTEs in both areas.
Support Functions	Costs, FTEs or activities associated with either the whole CS function that cannot be allocated to another area of customer service or within a CS function that cannot be allocated to the activities described for that function. Only include people who don’t spend at least 50% of their time in a specific functional area. This might include benchmarking/performance improvement; training; directors If training is for a specific functional area, then it belongs with that area. Do not include corporate allocations, or any HR activities. Technical support includes people supporting work specific to that functional area. It refers to all tasks performed by an FTE in support of a Direct FTE. Administrative support Unlike technical support, administrative support refers to a task that is required in all processes. It is generic in nature and is (for the most part) interchangeable between functional areas. This category includes all secretarial FTE as well as accounting and reporting decentralized in a specific activity, treatment of basic business information, scorecards, etc.
Technical support	Technical support includes people supporting work specific to that functional area. It refers to all tasks performed by an FTE in support of a Direct FTE. It is Mission oriented. It takes the form of a particular expertise or knowledge that can only be used for a particular activity or process. Trainers and schedulers are also part of this category. Technical support FTE will not work directly on a particular case other than assisting direct FTE resolve particular problems encountered. Their task may also be to analyze the process performance, produce new policies and design new business practices for direct FTEs in order to ensure the activity evolves towards greater performance.
Technology Costs	Any technology specifically used for this function such as meter reading devices, mobile data technology, telephone switch or call routing software, call monitoring software etc. See guidelines for a complete list of examples
Transaction fees (fees paid by utility)	Fees for credit card transactions, bank charges, etc. Fees associated with payments (even if a call or a local office) still goes in payment. All third-party transaction costs associated with receiving and posting customer payments. This includes fees for lock box, credit card fees, payment gateways.
Transactions	Transactions occurring between a customer and the company. Allocated into two types for volume count purposes: 1) Completable, where the customer conducts a transaction that triggers an event or a responding action by the company, such as a credit extension, payment, or request for service and 2) Convenience, where the customer gets information such as viewing a bill or usage history etc., but does not trigger a responding event by the company
Turnover	Turnover is the percentage of annual staffing (turnover/total average staff over the year period) change in a given function due to employee departures, promotions, retirements, transfers to another department etc.. “Positive turnover” is turnover that is managed by the company and would include internal or directed transfers, promotions, or performance-related terminations. “Negative turnover” is turnover that is a result of an employee’s decision and would include employee decided resignations, retirements, or self-motivated transfers to other departments.
Unable to Complete (UTC)	Field situation where a field worker is unable to complete an issued service order. Reasons include: incorrect order issued, proper parts or tools not available, required pre-work or permitting not completed, was not able to get to the order due to schedule, time, backlog etc., or called-out for emergency/trouble
Urban	Greater than 500 people per square mile.
Vehicle Costs	Costs associated with the operations & maintenance of vehicles for use solely by Customer service; Usually charged out on a per mile or some other basis. Any payments for use of personal vehicles should also be included.
Chargeable Motor Vehicle Accident.	Any occurrence involving the use of company-owned, -leased, or -rented vehicle which results in physical damage to said vehicle or the vehicle, body or property of another without regard to financial impact, regardless of whose property was damaged, who was injured or found to be cited or at fault. This definition also applies to private vehicles when used on official duty. Exceptions are as follows: - Accidents to properly and legally parked, Company-owned, -leased, or -rented motor vehicles, and accidents
Preventable Motor Vehicle Accident.	Any chargeable vehicle accident in which the driver did not do everything reasonably possible to avoid said accident
Preventable Vehicle Accident Frequency Rate	This measure includes a Fleet motor vehicle accident while on the job or in connection with Company business in which the driver failed to do everything that reasonably could have been done to prevent it, resulting in any injuries, property or vehicle damage, or violations cited by law enforcement. The measure is calculated as: Total Preventable Motor Vehicle Accidents X 1,000,000 / Number of Miles Driven.
Total Motor Vehicle Accident Frequency Rate	This measure includes a Fleet motor vehicle accident while on the job or in connection with Company business in which the driver failed to do everything that reasonably could have been done to prevent it, resulting in any injuries, property or vehicle damage, or violations cited by law enforcement. The measure is calculated as: Total Preventable Motor Vehicle Accidents X 1,000,000 / Number of Miles Driven.
Virtual hold	Technology used in the contact center that allows a customer in queue to speak to a live agent the option of waiting in queue or receiving an outbound return call. How it works: Typically if there is an extended time to speak with a CSR, callers receive the option to stay on line or hang up and receive a return call in (usually) the same amount of time as if they stayed on hold. Before the completion of the call, customers provide or confirm the telephone number for the returned call and their name. Using recorded information, the virtual hold application service later dials the number, asks for the person who left the message, and connects the customer with the next available service representative. Both inbound and outbound call count as a single call.
Wage Rate	We are looking for the average hourly wage rate for the position, based on a fully-qualified incumbent.
Website Response Management	Managing the group of people or the process of responding to contacts initiated at the web. The group or person who determines the policy around handling web-initiated contacts.
Write-offs Costs	Write-offs are defined as the net percent of total revenue written off (e.g. less any recoveries). Goal is the actual dollar amount written off during the year. This is not necessarily the same as “uncollectibles”, which is in the FERC 904 account for the year, since that can be affected by changes in the provision for bad debt during the year (FERC 144 account). Write-offs are the annual “net” cost of bad debt. In other words any recoveries (less fees) should be subtracted from gross write-offs.

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