Bureaus, billing and e-issues workshop - January 2009

Responding to popular demand from London public sector organisations to learn more about energy billing, automating processes and to find out more about bureau services, LEP was pleased to host a 'Bureaus, billing and e-issues' workshop on January 21^st.

This was a well attended workshop, with 42 delegates, all with different needs. Some wanted to learn more about improving their own internal bill validation and data handling solutions and others needed to start from scratch, currently having no specialist staff or software.

• Amanda de Swarte from the LEP introduced the subject and the factors that an organisation would need to consider. She also gave an update on changes to gas metering and transportation charges and the LEP's work in the areas of XML billing and the Carbon Reduction Commitment.
  Introduction Opens in a new window (230KB)

  Factors to consider and closing thoughts Opens in a new window  (37KB)
  Customer information re gas charges Opens in a new window  (30KB)
  Gas charges MT example Opens in a new window (15KB)

• Both the TEAM and Utilyx bureaus gave a demonstration of their services. These covered
  - Working with clients
  - Bill querying and validation
  - Process automation
  - Provision of accounts payment files to financial management systems
  - Use of data to support energy efficiency measures.
  TEAM bureau presentation Opens in a new window (2,593KB)
  Utilyx bureau presentation to follow.
• Jon Lindop, Senior Developer from TEAM gave an overview of invoice validation methods, the sorts of tolerances a customer would set and the types of bill failures and cost recoveries that could be expected.
  Consolidated e-invoicing Opens in a new window (724KB)
• James Reed, Bureau Manager from Utilyx provided an overview of how data could be used for carbon management purposes.
  The value of data Opens in a new window  (153KB)

In the afternoon, the LEP facilitated a roundtable discussion between London public sector customers, the bureaus and their Professional Buying Organisations, The Energy Consortium (TEC) and OGCbuying.solutions. It was quite a lively debate with a wide variety of issues covered, and an overview of the topics discussed will be posted shortly.

Approximately 50% of the organisations represented were considering using a bureau to supplement their energy management activities. There was consensus amongst delegates that a London Statement of Requirements would be useful, and we will need to consider how best to take this forward.

LEP thanks all concerned for their input on the day.