1. BILLING REGIONALISATION PROJECT
A Revenue Shared Services Presentation
GROUP FINANCE

2. Table of Contents Strategic Intent Why Regionalise Proposed Process
Project Benefits
Project Impact
Stakeholder Engagement
Roll-out Approach
Table of Contents

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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
MMS
Billing Process

6. 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?

7. 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

8. 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
U1 Elec
U1 Water E1 A1 C1 D1 F1 G1
Mar-17
Proposed Process
* Due Dates calculated on 15 days after posting

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. THANK YOU Question and Answers