SANDY Forecast Service: Advance-Payment Check for Power
High additional payments or credits are a thing of the past
The power consumption in a household is influenced by a variety of factors. In the case of household power, it is mainly the number of users and the individual consumption behavior that influence the consumption. In the case of heating power, especially weather conditions, in addition to structural changes and changes in consumption habits, influence the consumption. An “advance payment year” generally does not run as calculated and the planned advance payments don’t always match. Additional payments or memos in the annual invoice are not rare. Especially additional payments are unpleasant for the customer and often attributed to the energy provider.
The SANDY “Advance Payment Check for Power” makes it possible to determine the consumption prognoses and correct advance payments specific to the household, fast and easily. Offer an interim consumption prognosis and advance payment review during the year to minimize additional payments and credits. This provides households with a reliable overview of consumption and costs and the resulting financial planning security contributes to customer satisfaction.
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Product benefits in detail
However, a correct monthly advance payment is in the best interest of the customer and also the provider: When excessive advance payments are made, the customer receives a credit; however, he has high monthly costs and thereby the subjective impression that he has entered an unfavorable contract. In the case of insufficient advance payments, the resulting additional payment causes the customer to be dissatisfied and an increased willingness to change providers.
As an energy provider, you provide your customers or users of your portal with the ability to check the advance payment throughout the year. Based on meter readings, the SANDY “Advance Payment Check for Power” predicts the consumption of household power or heating power up to the annual invoice. The customer’s consumption behavior and the local weather conditions are thereby taken into account. The customer-specific consumption prognosis enables you or your customer to review the current advance payment. You can then derive the correct advance payment for the predicted consumption or SANDY takes over the calculation of the advance payment when the relevant price information is submitted.
This will allow you to position yourself as an innovative provider and benefit you with increased customer satisfaction. As a suggestion for a possible application, the service can be integrated as a function “Advance payment check for
Power” in your customer portal or your customer app to make it available to your customer “on demand”. Or, you review the advance payments of all customers in regular intervals for current accuracy and incorporate the result in your customer communication.
Of course, it is also possible to offer this service for non-customers. This allows non-customers to check with you independently if the advance payment is accurate for the current energy provider or if it should be adjusted. You thereby offer a service with a true added value and provide an insight into your good customer services, establish a positive image of your company and the potential for a new customer acquisition.
Excessive or insufficient consumption prognosis
If an additional payment arises from the annual invoice, it is upsetting for the customer because he did not expect this additional expense. As a result, he frequently considers a change of providers to enter a contract that appears to be more cost-effective.
If the customer receives a credit, it is initially perceived as a positive but it also means to him that he has been paying excessive amounts for months. In this case, the customer perceives the provider to be too expensive.
Optimized consumption prognosis through Advance payment check for Power
The intelligent prognosis of SANDY provides the customer with a more transparent insight in his consumption. The analysis can be used early on to determine if an additional payment or a refund must be expected in the accounting period. This allows both contract parties to adjust the monthly payments with flexibility. No financial resources are tied up for either side and no one has to expect unexpected demands. In addition, the customer benefits with immediate profit from energy saving actions without having to wait for the next accounting cycle.
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Target group
› Energy distribution companies
› Energy portals
Addes values for costomers
› Financial planning security by preventing unexpected high additional payments or credits
› Prevention of excessively high monthly advance payments
› Consumption based, prompt and continuously adjusted advance payments
› Positive insight also for non-customers
Added values for your company
› reduction of the cancellation rate due to high additional payments
› establishment of the potential for new customer acquisition
› customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is increased by preventing excessively high advance payments
› fast, easy, cost-efficient integration in existing systems
› scaling with growing customer base
› all of the benefits of “Software as a Service”, for instance high availability, automatic updates, no maintenance expense
› no use of personal data
› high degree of security with secured and encrypted interfaces
Technical Details
› Communication via state-of-the-art RESTful API
› Input:
– past meter readings of the customer (minimum quarterly; recommended: monthly to weekly)
– desired prognosis period (point in time annual invoice)
– optional: Price information for the calculation of the advance payment
› Output:
– predicted consumption of the customer in the requested prognosis period, optionally also a correct concrete advance payment
› Security:
– encrypted data transmission via HTTPS
– authorization via individual API key
– reliable operation in the Microsoft Azure Cloud
A solution with many capabilities
The service logic that is used in the background of the “Advance Payment Check for Power” can be modified for applications in other areas, such as settlements for gas customers.
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