Electricity Billing System (SAP IS-U)

The electricity supply system is complex regardless of whether the electricity is generated from renewable sources or from fossil or nuclear fuels. At HEP Elektra, the need arose for a more efficient and simpler way for billing of supplied electricity.

HEP Elektra customers are divided into several categories, each requiring a separate billing and supply contract. Monthly invoices are based on the monthly readings of consumption and are charged according to actual consumption. For contracts based on a six-month calculation period, a budget billing plan is generated for the period between meter readings.

HEP decided to implement the industry software solution SAP IS-U, which provides a central site for information on its customer’s electricity consumption. Information is generated on the basis of data collected from meters, making the collection process more efficient. An additional benefit of the solution is that it enables the unhindered exchange of information with other participants on the electricity market.

Multiple SAP solutions, integrated into a single solution, were implemented.

HEP Elektra implemented SAP ECC 6.0 upon which the SAP IS-U Industry Solution for utility companies was activated.

The following SAP IS-U modules were implemented:

• IS-U basic functions – management of addresses and regional structures and the generated schedule for consumption readings, consumption calculation and budget billing plans.
• IS-U master data – customer business data, contracted invoices, contracts and technical data, such as hook-up structures, consumption sites, installations, supply locations, device locations, etc.
• DM – module that manages the technical core data, device installations and measurement results.
• BILL – module for the calculation of electricity consumption for customers, enabling different ways of calculating payments.
• INV – module for invoicing the calculated consumption of electrical energy and drafting monthly payment plans for the upcoming period.
• FI-CA – module of customer contracts that represents a type of analytical accounting drafted according to the needs of this industrial sector with many end customers and business partners, and a large number of documents to process.
• IDE – module for the exchange of data between companies operating on the deregulated electrical energy market.

In addition to the SAP IS-U module, HEP Elektra implemented the modules for financial accounting (FI), sales and distribution (SD) and work flow processes (WF).

Implementation included:

• SAP CRM system for customer relationship management
• SAP PO system for communications and mutual integration of SAP systems, and of SAP systems with other external systems.

Customer service processes are handled within the SAP CRM system. It enables an overview of the basic customer information, such as customer history, overview of invoices, overview of monthly payments, overview of payment reminders, overview of meter readings.
The registration of new customers also takes place via the SAP CRM system, and these data are then replicated onto the SAP IS-U system.