Averaging and Prior Customer Consumption

Utilities now have greater control over how they determine consumption for new customers. Enhancements have been made to provide two separate check boxes for enabling or disabling prior customer seasonal averaging and prior customer meter audits and estimates. Click for additional background information.

In Utility Management, consumption history is used to 1) estimate a meter read when an actual read can’t be completed, 2) work with audits to gauge the integrity of a fresh meter read, and 3) do summer sewer averaging. However, new customers don’t have a consumption history at their new residence. For these customers, some utilities will use the previous customer’s usage for estimates, averaging, and audits, while other utilities prefer not to use prior customer history. Utilities Management lets utilities control for sewer averaging and estimates, and these new enhancements give utilities even greater control over these processes.

Seasonal and Consumption Averaging

Maintenance > UM > UM Settings > Consumption tab

The Seasonal Averaging section of the Consumption tab has been enhanced with the addition of the Consider Prior Customers in Seasonal Averaging check box.

If this check box is selected, prior customer history will be factored into seasonal averaging for new customers. If cleared, prior customer history will not be factored into seasonal averaging for new customers.

In the Consumption Averaging section of the Consumption tab, the Consider Prior Customers check box has been renamed Consider Prior Customers in Meter Audits and Estimates.

In earlier releases of New World ERP, if the Consider Prior Customers check box is selected, consumption from the previous customers on the account will be a factor in sewer averaging and estimates (but not audits; audits always considered prior customers).

Now, when the newly enhanced Consider Prior Customers in Meter Audits and Estimates check box is selected, the consumption history of previous customers on the account will be factored into Meter Audits and Estimates.

If the check box is cleared, consumption history will reflect the current customer’s consumption only, and not that of previous customers.

To Summarize: In earlier releases of New World ERP, there is one check box to determine whether or not prior customer history is used in sewer averaging and estimates, the Consider Prior Customers check box. With this new release, there are now two check boxes, one for sewer averaging (Consider Prior Customers Seasonal Averaging) and one for estimates and audits (Consider Prior Customers in Meter Audits and Estimates).

Consumption Audits

Maintenance > UM > UM Settings > Consumption tab > Consumption Audits

In earlier releases of New World ERP Utility Management, audits always include prior customer consumption history.

However, enhancements have been made to force the Consumption Comparison and Insufficient History audits to include or exclude prior customer history based on the Consider Prior Customers in Meter Audits and Estimates check box value (see Consumption Averaging above).

If the Consider Prior Customers in Meter Audits and Estimates check box is selected, the Consumption Comparison and Insufficient History audits will consider meter reads from prior customers when doing the consumption averaging for the audit (which will throw additional maters into the Insufficient History audit).

If the Consider Prior Customers in Meter Audits and Estimates check box is cleared, the audits will run as they always have.