Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/850954
E n s u r i n g a S t r o n g F u t u r e 44 | P a g e Customer Services – Key Focus Areas The key focus areas of Customer Services are Billings, Receipts and Collections, Customer Assistance and Meter Services and AMI. Billing, Receipts and Collections Ensuring customers are billed accurately and revenue is collected promptly is fundamental to District operations. The Support Center prepares over 25,000 bills each month for delivery. They must complete many tasks under very strict deadlines for bills to be issued timely. These responsibilities include entering new services into the billing system; importing billing reads from the AMI network; analyzing all accounts for exceptions or anomalies; reviewing new accounts for deposits, sewer volume and start up fees; reviewing bill print for accuracy; sending the bill file to a third party vendor for final processing and delivery; applying late fees and sending required notifications to customers; and processing customer final bills and refunds. Customers make bill payments in many forms; it is the Customer Service Representatives' responsibility to receive those payments and accurately record them in customers' accounts. Our representatives are also responsible for following up on delinquent accounts in an attempt to minimize lost revenue due to bad debt. Service may be terminated and liens levied on a property for unpaid account charges. Bad debts can be forwarded to a collection agency for further handling. Customer Assistance Both Support Center and Field Services staff have an incredible ability to understand the ever changing needs of the customer and provide assistance and solutions with a positive outcome. They strive to answer customer questions effectively, fix problems when they arise and try to resolve conflicts appropriately and equitably. More specifically they answer billing, payment, and account questions via telephone, email, and written correspondence; investigate high bill concerns; help identify leaks or other sources of water waste that can result in a high bill; visit a customer premise for conflict resolution; assist customer with leak appeal; help customers register and review online water use via the customer portal; assist customer with e-billing registration and account changes and field questions regarding rate changes, increases, conservation and drought. Technology and its challenges certainly play a large role in how we provide service to our customers. The Plan includes many great enhancements to the customer service experience through product improvement and new technologies. How we incorporate these new technologies and not lose the personal contact with the customer is critical to the department's success.