BILLING REGIONALISATION PROJECT A Revenue Shared Services Presentation GROUP FINANCE
Table of Contents Strategic Intent Why Regionalise Proposed Process Project Benefits Project Impact Stakeholder Engagement Roll-out Approach Table of Contents
The City’s Growth and Development Strategy 2040(GDS 2040) seeks to achieve a sustainable resilient and liveable society. Financial sustainability and resilience are foundations that support the short and long term vision of the City. The Billing Regionalisation is aligned to this strategy, through: Improved revenue collection; Improved Customer care (Customer Centricity); Enhanced levels of productivity; Improved efficiency and effectiveness; and Stimulating public interest and action towards agreed and commonly held future outcomes. Strategic Intent
Billing is the key driver of Revenue currently linked to: Billing is a department within the Revenue Shared Service Centre's (RSSC) Directorate; Billing is the RSSC engine responsible for the processing of quality bills to influence the city’s cash inflow; Billing is the key driver of Revenue currently linked to: 23 billing Portions; 21 days - daily processing; 1.035m Invoice-able Accounts. Billing
Billing Process Post E-mail Statement Distribution MMS Invoicing Order Creation (Provision of a file to the MoEs for meter reading) Meter Reading Upload (Submission of meter readings by MoEs) Validation Billing Invoicing Statement Distribution Post E-mail MMS Billing Process
Why Regionalise Billing? Operational efficiency There are currently 23 billing portions that are spread across all regions; It takes the whole month to bill all the portions; No focus by meter readers on a particular area, e.g., region, thus impacting on the quality of the meter readings; Revenue collection Revenue is only collected the following month after billing; Customer relationship No flexibility by customers on when to pay their invoices. The due date is determine by when the customer is billed. Why Regionalise Billing?
The meter reading schedule is spread across multiple regions The meter reading schedule is spread across multiple regions. Current process lack efficiency as meter readers are expected to read meters from various regions for one billing portion, multiplied by 23 portions a month. Portion Region B A 3 B 2765 C 24 D E 5592 F G 1584 H 1 I 28 J 42 K 10007 L 4719 M 2947 N 1349 O 17054 P 2569 Q 7902 R S 3481 T U 117 Current Scenario
Scheduled Billing Date Meter reading and billing will be done per region to improve efficiency and billing accuracy Month Portion Scheduled Billing Date Due Date Feb-17 B1 02.02.2017 17.02.2017 U1 Elec U1 Water E1 03.02.2017 20.02.2017 A1 06.02.2017 21.02.2017 C1 07.02.2017 22.02.2017 D1 08.02.2017 23.02.2017 F1 09.02.2017 24.02.2017 G1 10.02.2017 27.02.2017 Mar-17 02.03.2017 17.03.2017 03.03.2017 18.03.2017 06.03.2017 22.03.2017 07.03.2017 08.03.2017 23.03.2017 09.03.2017 24.03.2017 10.03.2017 27.03.2017 Proposed Process * Due Dates calculated on 15 days after posting
Project Benefits Customer Benefits Customers will be able to choose their own due dates. The chosen due dates should be between the 15th and 28th day of the month; Customers will be aligned to their regional offices for focused service; Regionalised Billing will make it easier for customers to understand their meter reading schedules. Operational Benefits Alignment of meter readings to geographic regions to improve efficiency, billing accuracy and collections; Billing accuracy will improve and customer complaints will reduce; Billing Regionalisation will provide the ability to measure performance per geographic area; Project Benefits
Project Impact Impact on Customers The billing dates, meter reading dates and due dates will change from what the customers are accustomed to; During implementation some customers will receive two (2) invoices with due dates in the same month; Customers will have to amend their debit order with their financial institutions (banks) to align to the changed due dates. Project Impact
Stakeholder Engagement External Communication Fridge magnets with statements (maps showing reading dates and due dates (month after launch); Banners (pull ups) to be done and placed in all Customer Service Centres, notice boards, etc. (procurement issue); Pamphlets (FAQs) to be printed and handed out in all customer service centres; Letters to customers who will be receiving double bills, drafted and will be posted with all customer’s statements; Community Newspapers - Adverts in the Community based Caxton newspapers; Interviews on Community Radio & pre-recorded messaging (1hr per radio station) - Target market is 702 Talk show, Power FM, Kaya Radio, Highveld Stations; Customer newsletter (Jozibill) to be distributed to all customers. Stakeholder Engagement
Regionalised Meter Reading Phase 1 – Regions A, B, C, E & Portion U Jan Feb March April May Rollout Approach Regionalised Meter Reading Regionalised Billing Regionalised Meter Reading Regionalised Billing Phase 1 – Regions A, B, C, E & Portion U Phase 2 - Regions D, G & F Support
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