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Home My WebLink About2001 08 02 Regular C Utility Billing Computer Conversion COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM C ICONSENT ' INFORMATIONAL PUBLIC HEARING REGULAR X August 2,2001 Meeting MGR V /DEPT. ~ A llthorl7.::ltion REQUEST: The Finance Department is requesting the City Commission review information regarding the status of the Utility Billing Computer Conversion. PURPOSE: To inform the City Commission of problems we have encountered with the Utility Billing Computer Conversion and their status so that they can properly respond to residents calls/questions/complaints. CONSIDERATIONS: A full cycle (4) of utility bills has been sent out under the new software. The problems we and our customers noted were: CUSTOMER BILL CONFUSION DUE TO LACK OF BILL ITEMIZATION: . DEPOSIT RETURN - Per our Code of Ordinance Section 19-100, Upon completion of25 months of service with no delinquents during the previous 24 months, the deposit will be refunded". Our old system did not have a feature that would check late payment history or return deposits when the established criteria was met. The new system does have such a feature. We activated that feature for the Cycle 1 bill run. The 1st cycle mistakenly returned all of the customers deposits because their was no associated deposit date for the deposit amount and instead of not doing it at all it returned every ones. This showed up as a payment and created a "credit balance" - this was confusing to our customers. The deposit return feature was turned off after the 1 st cycle. Technical support is working on a fix to the deposit return feature. We are going to research the commercial deposits that were returned and recharge them as they are never to be returned. It is my intention to not recharge the residential customers in cycle 1, that have lived in their residence for less than 2 years, for their returned deposits due to the system error. My rationale is that if they do not pay and get cut off they will have to put a deposit down to get services turned back on anyway. It is also my opinion that a good number of the deposits should have been previously returned to our residents who have lived at their residence for two years but our old system did not have a feature that would automatically return the deposits after 2 years or check late paYment history. Customers deposits were returned when they moved out or called to request the return of their deposit. . CREDITS IN PAYMENT FIELD - On a few customers who receivt;:d adjustments due to credits (water bill adjustments -leaks, pool adj...) the credits showed up as paYments and knocked their actual paYment out ofthe paYment box; however, their paYment was reflected in the net due or owed. PaYments, deposit returns and adjustments are all reflected in the "PaYment" box. The last one calculated, entered or posted is the one to show up in the box. This is a feature ofthe system and we are exploring whether it can be changed. Our telephone support can answer any questions should they rise on an on-going basis. . UTILITY TAX ITEMIZATION - The utility tax did not show up on the bill; however, it Was in the net due calculations. Technical support is working on getting this to show up. They think they will have it ready next week. TELEPHONE CAPACITY - CUSTOMERS CANT GET THROUGH . Excessive telephone calls and lack oftelephone call capacity. Customers called because they wanted to discuss their new bill. Two Full-time Temporary telephone support personnel have been brought in to help answer any questions our residents may have, along with the recently hired telephone support employee in the billing office. In time this should subside . and our permanent employees should be able to manage the daily calls. We are continuing to evaluate the need for the temporary employees and will release them as soon as possible. RECEIVED A LATE/CUTOFF NOTICE BUT NEVER GOT THE BILL - POST OFFICE LOST SOME OF OUR BILLS . Lost bills - Cycle 2. The post office has misplaced some of our cycle 2 bills - we don't know how many but a number of customers have called to say they haven't received a bill but they did receive a late notice. We're working with the Post Office; however, they have not yet been located. CUSTOMERS PAYMENT NOT CREDITED TO THE BILL SO THEY GOT A LATE NOTICE . Lost Data. The MIS department loaded an update to Munis that slowed our system. Our MIS department performed a fix to the system following instructions from Munis and it appears to have wiped out a partial days worth of transactions - we think it is related to 7/1 0/01 only. PaYments taken over the counter (credited to the customers account) and all the receipts received via mail and posted to the customers accounts disappeared from the system. So, as customers call to complain that they did not receive credit for their paYment (got a late notice), we are requesting that they send us a copy of their cancelled check once received from the bank so that we can reestablish the days transactions - names and dollars and date posted - so that we may repost them to our computer system and isolate whether this is just a 7/1 % 1 issue or their are other lost data issues. We are also researching the transaction data for 7/10/01. We have approximately 320 customers that we need to research from 7/10/01 alone. We are going through the next run of bills to pull out their bill until we can either ensure that they did get credit for the last paYment or repost their paYment. Their bills will be sent out as soon as possible. RECOMMENDATION: N/A - for information only. ATTACHMENTS: Example of a bill COMMISSION ACTION: .. w Detach this portion and return with your remittance w City of Winter Springs Utility Billing 1126 E. State Road 434 Winter Springs, FL 32708 407-327-5996 UTILITY BILL Remit Copy Bill Number 111734 Account Number Due Da~e, 08/14/2001 Previous Balance -28.85 <:;urrent Charges 26.31 . , $-2.54 MARK MATHES Changes made below are for mailing address only. Please change the following: Mailing Address: City. State. Zip: Home Telephone: Business Telephone: Email Address: 613 MARNI DRIVE WINTER SPRINGS, FL 32708 11111...1.111'1111...1111.1111.11'11111..1111111...11..11111.1 DDDDbD42DDlbDDll1734DDDDDDDDDDDD City of Winter Springs Utility Billing 1126 E. State Road 434 Winter Springs, FL 32708 407-327-5996 UTILITY BILL Customer Copy Keep this portion for your records Customer ., MARK MATHES Bill Number ,', 111734 Description Present Read Date , Account Num~er 1211 10661 ...1- _",__ " ". ..Servic13 Address 613 MARNI DRIVE , .. .J'li,1I DatE! 07/24/2001 I Due Date .J. :. 08/14/2001 , Usage ' . ',' Ct)!l.r9.e,' .. :> w <t Vl U lD :> '" '" ::> E (; u. WATER 3/4" SEWER 3/4" GARBAGE STMWTR FUL 07105/2001 Previous R,ead Date Present.,Meter ,Reading ~revious, fy1etfl~ ,fleaging' , .Reading' , " 05/31/2001 1378190 1378190 A A 06/01/2001 0 0 A 06/01/2001 0 0 A o o o o 3.58 6.65 13.68 2.04 07110/2001 07/10/2001 ~ " (; ~ S en o '" '" .. g Q) OJ u Last Pay. AmI 28.85 Last Pay"Date. 07/24/2001 . ,Amourt PastDue -28.85 , . 'R~ter,lln~Ei.f!J .~._,..,.. :. 'I~'c,: ~,c::urren1~.~~rges . . ", $-2.54 . A = Actual, E = Estimate WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE AS WE FINE TUNE OUR NEW UTILITY BILLS. IF YOUR BILL SHOWS A NEGATIVE AMOUNT DUE, THIS IS A CREDIT ON YOUR ACCOUNT. PLEASE DO NOT PAY. Customer Service Office location and Hours: II you have any questions about your bill. please call City of Winter Springs Utility Billing Office at 14071 327.5996. Office hours are Monday to Friday. 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The office is located at 1126 East State Road 434, Winter Springs. Florida. For your convenience. a drive up night depository box is provided in the driveway on the west end of City Hall, PLEASE DO NOT PLACE CASH IN THE NIGHT DEPOSITORY. For after hours emergencies related to utilities, call 14071 327.2669. Garbage and Recycling: Garbage and Recycling services arB handled by Florida Recycling. Ouestions regarding these services should be directed to their customer service department at (407) 831.1539. Delinquent Payments: If current charges are not paid by tha due data, the charges are subiect to a 5% late fee, Previous balance indicates a PAST DUE amount, The due date on the front does not apply to any previous balance. An account with a previous balance is subject to disconnection 8t any time. In order to reinstate service on 8~ turned off for nonpayment, the customer must pay the total amount due plus an additional turn-on charge of $20.00. Our policy prohibits field personnel from collecting any checks or cash from our customers. Payments must be made in our customer service office. If you have any questions regarding delinquent accounts, please contact our collection office at (407) 327.5996. How to Read Your Water Meter: Your water meter is a highly accurate device. Its useful life extends twenty years and rarely, if ever, requires maintenance or adjustment. In order to keep track of the effect of different household activities on your water consumption, you can easily read your meter. Simply write down all the numbers shown on the faco of the meter and deduct a previOUS reading from this figure to get your water consumption in thousands of gallons. Mall Delivery Problema: The City of Winter Springs is not responsible for undelivered Of late mail. In the event you fail to receive a bill, please call our customer service office 8t the number listed above.