Energy retailers operating in Ontario�s electricity market have complex business requirements placed upon them by the market rules for customer enrolments, drops, moves, billing and settlement. Retailers must implement and operate a billing and settlement system, customized to the Ontario market as well as their own internal business processes (e.g., IT interfaces, customer contracts, etc.). This system must communicate with local distribution companies (LDCs) through an Electronic Business Transaction (EBT) hub service provider. The diagram below illustrates this:

How it Works

 

The Value Proposition

SPi�s managed billing and settlement services enable retailers to quickly enter the Ontario electricity market. Historically,these services have been launched in as little as 15 to 30 days. By choosing SPi�s managed billing and settlement services, rather than licensing, customizing, implementing and operating a billing and settlement system, which also requires training support staff to understand the market rules and to interact with 90 LDCs, retailers can avoid the substantial investment in back-office systems and staff needed to comply with the Ontario market standards.

SPi�s managed billing and settlement services facilitate a retailer�s interactions with LDCs in Ontario. Despite Ontario�s strong market standards, discrepancies still arise between retailers and distributors. These issues require immediate attention by staff highly trained in Ontario�s market rules to ensure timely consumer enrolments and accurate retailer charges included on consumer bills so as to avoid incorrect settlement invoices.

The managed billing and settlement services encompass data security and transport, data validation, customer billing calculation and distribution, and settlement reconciliation between retailers and LDCs � all within the context of multiple LDC-retailer business relationships. SPi customizes the operations management service to each individual retailer�s business needs.

The services can easily accommodate specific requirements, such as electricity contract details, business rules and data exchange specifications. With SPi managing the back office for billing and settlement, retailers can focus on winning customers and driving their core business.

Distributor or Retailer Consolidated Billing

SPi�s retailer managed billing and settlement services are available under either a distributor consolidated or a retailer consolidated billing model. Under distributor consolidated billing, SPi will calculate contract charges and submit them to the distributor on the basis of the distributor�s meter reading cycle. The distributor will invoice the customer and settle with the retailer on the net of these charges and commodity costs, separately invoicing and collecting non-competitive energy charges such as transmission and debt retirement charges. Under retailer consolidated billing, SPi will accept non-competitive energy charges from the distributor based on the distributor�s meter reading cycle, or will estimate these charges and estimate energy consumption based on the retailer�s billing cycle. SPi will calculate contract charges and, along with the other charges, will produce an invoice that the retailer can submit to the customer. The distributor will settle with the retailer for the non-competitive energy charges and the commodity cost. While retailer consolidated billing generally poses a larger credit barrier, it also allows a retailer to take greater control of its billing cycle, accelerate cash flow, and own the interaction with the customer.

Service Benefits: