Billing
Name the 6 Key elements of a bill
Customers usage, tariff prices, EAC/AQ, Meter readings, Current balance and payments
What are some of the potential impacts if a home move is actioned incorrectly
Incorrect Liability, Chasing the wrong occupier, Cost to the business increases, Data protection risks.
What are the ways our customer can pay
Card, Post office, bank transfer, cheque or direct debit
Why do we raise complaints?
To make the business aware of current problems
What is the resolving checklist?
The customer knows you opened a complaint
All actions agreed have been completed
You’ve said sorry and shown empathy
Offered a fair resolution
You’ve provided a summary
The customer has agreed to close the complaint as they’re happy & satisfied
Talk me through the different types of meter readings - you must name at least 6 out of the 8 to gain the points
Ops reading, Customer reading, Estimated reading, transfer reading, COS reading, COT reading, Meter reader and Smart meter reading.
Talk me through the different types of liability
Landlord: Whenever the property is vacant and no tenants are living there
Home buyers: Once the contract is signed and the keys exchanged
Tenants: The start and end date on their tenancy agreement
Why do we NOT offer quarterly variable payments
Lack of visibility over usage and control over payments
Huge 3 month bills
No guaranteed payment when payment is due
When would you backdate a complaint?
If the customer has previously complained about this issue, but the complaint was not recorded initially.
What is best practice for if the customer is not happy with your original resolution?
Ask what they want as a resolution?
Think of alternative solutions
Ask for advice from colleagues. Side escalate
If we can do what the customer asks and it is the right thing to do, go ahead and resolve it!
What is a gas provisional charge
Kraken has provisional charges because we haven’t received the calorific values yet, The calorific value is the amount of energy which gets released when gas is burned, this can change due to variables like temperature and pressure.
What is the perfect move in?
They’ve received a letter addressed to the occupier with their 4 digit code. Because they have this, they can ‘Move in’ online themselves. If they call us, we can do it too but we would always want customers to self serve first
What must we always provide the customer with if a new instruction is being set up for their direct debit
THE DIRECT DEBIT GUARANTEE!
This must be provided whenever a new instruction has been created, even if we have had an existing one on the account
What are the steps to effective complaint management
Saying that you are sorry, taking ownership, creating a plan of action and asking the customer what they are looking for as a resolution.
Why is it so important that we resolve our complaints effectively when the customer is in debt?
The debt journey is paused when a complaint is raised, meaning the customer will not be receiving the support and payment plans designed within the debt journey. If we pause this journey, we’re essentially pulling that customer away from that specified support which comes from our affordability and vulnerability specialists.
Name 4 of the back billing exceptions
Occupier accounts
Prepayment accounts
If there is an account error and the customer has not provided the information when asked
If the customer has debt as a result of tampering with their meter
There is no energy consumption and the bill is for standing charges only.
If the charge was recovered before we took over as the migrated supplier (1st May 2018)
What is property admin?
This will mean that when a tenant moves out, the landlord’s details will automatically be added to the new account instead of there being an occupier account.
When and why do we run payment adequacy
When: Product changes, price changes, refund or debt transfers, customer request.
Why: To ensure the customer is always paying the right amount for their energy usage
How do you take ownership of a complaint, and what might that sound like?
Build trust, Provide reassurance, be in control.
“I’m really sorry to hear that this has happened. I’m taking care of this from now on, we’ll find a way to fix it”
What can we do to prevent the customer falling into no contact - name all four.
Always get contact details: Get an up to date phone number & email address always!
Understand what days & times are best to contact the customer
Agree a contact and stick to it
Send an email nudge: “Hey Jane, just letting you know I’ll be calling today at 4pm as agreed last week. Would you be able to get a meter reading ready for the call?”
The customers unit rate is 15.25 and their standing charge is 32.87. The first reading is 1356 and the reading we are billing to is 1784. What is this customers bill amount. (The bill period is for 28 days)
£74.47
428 units x 0.1525 = £65.27
28 days x 0.3287 = £9.20
£65.27+£9.20= £74.47
Who are Smart New Connections.
When new houses are being built they need to be connected to the grid and be supplied with power
The developer will get in contact with us and any new house will be set up as an SNC account until the new homeowner moves in
Talk me through the 4 steps of a repayment
1. The conversation
2. Fraud checks
3. Billing of the account
4. Checking the method of return.
Why is it so important to leave clear notes on the account? Bonus 100 points if you can remember the text expander!
To ensure if a colleague picks up the complaint, OFGEM review the complaint as part of an audit, the customer requests information on the complaint everyone has a full understanding of what you have done on the account, it also helps you manage the complaint more effectively.
Text Expander: "note.update"
Greg raised a complaint with us, on the first contact we got everything we needed, you did promise Greg a follow up call for today, the account isnt fully fixed just yet, but you want to update the customer. You try and call Greg but he does not answer, do we put the customer in the no contact process?
NO! We dont need anything from the customer, it is best practice in these situation to pop over an email where you can to keep the customer updated if you cannot get hold of them.
We only put the customer in the no contact process if we need something from them to resolve the complaint