Today’s process
Today’s deregulated energy process involves a data-intense manual process of manipulation and inconsistent “eyeballing” analysis powered by email, fax and paper-based communications.
LOA
The process starts with a Salesperson asking the prospect to fill out a paper-based Letter of Authorization (LOA), which is faxed to the Salesperson, who in turn faxes it to the Utility. If the prospect does not have all the necessary information, or if they simply forget about the LOA, the broker must make a follow-up call.
Usage
Usage requests are received via fax or email, and rekeyed by a department in the Utility dedicated to processing these requests. Staff then fax or email a spreadsheet containing meter history data to the Salesperson.
Analysis
At best, the Salesperson reviews the data for errors and inconsistencies.
Pricing
Most often, the usage data is forwarded to a list of Providers for pricing (in the broker case). Prices are received from the Providers and one or more “best” prices are presented to the prospect. The Salesperson might use a proprietary spreadsheet to forecast usage for up to 100 meters and 50 potential deal terms. Differences in usage history detail and format across Providers, and differences in deal terms, are dealt with on an ad-hoc basis.
Contract
The Salesperson requests a contract (in the case of the Broker) from the Provider, which is generated on-demand and has some expiration, after which time a new contract must be generated. This contract is then sent to the customer for execution. The executed contract is faxed to the Provider for processing. |
Tomorrow's process
Streamlined, collaborative, customer-focused broker and provider relationships provide the highest benefit to the energy consumer and the most manageable process to the Providers and Brokers.
LOA
Customers will fill out a secure online LOA, which will be automatically faxed or emailed to them for signature. The incoming LOA is detected and automatically routed to the Utility for usage data. The broker is notified when Customers complete the LOA, and can easily run reports of LOAs or other missing documents.
Usage
Usage requests arrive at the Utility via email, without requiring rekeying of data as the meter IDs were entered when the online LOA was filled out. This means exponentially faster processing time, as the process is reduced to signature verification.
Analysis
The incoming usage data is automatically processed and analyzed for statistical deviations, errors and inconsistencies.
Pricing
In the case of an ABC, this data is reviewed and specific Providers are selected for pricing - different usage history formats and deal terms are presented in a consistent format. Alternatively, the deal can be securely "published" for open pricing to any qualified Provider. The customer reviews pricing and product analysis reports, which explain the differences between the various prices and products, and selects a contract term.
Contract
The contract is automatically generated from a pre-approved template received from the Provider and emailed or faxed to the customer. If no template is available, a contract is requested from the Provider and tracked throughout the request process. The signed contract is digitally stored and automatically routed to the selected Provider for processing. |
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