Smart Utility Metering & Billing Hub

The Smart Utility Metering & Billing Hub brings interval reads from a municipal utility's water and electric smart meters into one place, validates them, and calculates bills under the rates your governing body has approved, including time-of-use and tiered rates. It flags likely leaks, stopped meters and outages from the data as reads arrive, so staff can act before a customer receives a surprise bill. Customers see their own usage and alerts in a portal, and every read, estimate, adjustment and bill keeps its history.

The problem it solves

Many cities have installed smart meters but still bill from a system built for monthly manual reads. Interval data sits in the meter vendor's head-end system, estimates and exceptions are worked by hand before each billing cycle, and leaks show up as a high bill weeks after they started. New rate designs approved by the council are hard to implement, and when a customer disputes a bill, staff piece together reads, estimates and adjustments from several screens.

Who it’s for

• Municipal water, electric and combined utilities and the city departments that run them
• Utility billing and customer service managers and staff
• Meter operations and field service teams
• Utility finance and rate analysts who implement approved rates
• Auditors, elected officials and residents who need clear, consistent billing records

1. Collect and validateInterval and register reads arrive from your meter head-end systems. Each read is checked for gaps, spikes, reverse flow and stopped registers before it is used for billing.
2. DetectAs validated reads arrive, the Hub looks for continuous flow that suggests a leak, meters that have stopped, possible tampering, and groups of meters that stop reporting together, which may indicate an outage.
3. BillValidated usage is rated under the customer's rate schedule, including time-of-use periods, tiers, fixed charges and taxes, and the bill run is reviewed before bills are issued.
4. Serve customersCustomers see their usage by day or hour, their bills and any leak or high-use alert in a portal. Staff handle disputes and adjustments from one account view.

Meter data validation

Rules for gaps, spikes, zero use, reverse flow and meter changes, with every estimate marked and the method recorded.

Leak and continuous-use alerts

Accounts with use that never drops to zero over the period you set are flagged for staff review and, if you choose, for a customer alert.

Outage and communication flags

Meters that stop reporting are grouped by area and feeder or pressure zone, so staff can tell a single failed meter from a wider problem.

Rate configuration

Tiered, seasonal, time-of-use and fixed charges set up from your approved rate schedules, with effective dates and version history.

Rate impact testing

Run a proposed rate against past usage to see its effect on bills by customer class before it goes to your governing body.

Bill run review

Bills that differ sharply from the account's history are held for review before the run is approved and issued.

Customer portal

Customers see daily or hourly usage, bills and alerts, set alert preferences and pay through your processor's payment page.

Account history

Every read, estimate, adjustment, bill and payment on one account timeline, for disputes and audits.

Exception queues

Validation failures, held bills and detection flags in work queues by type and age, with reason codes for each outcome.

Field work orders

Meter checks, repairs and leak visits created from an exception or alert and sent to your work order system.

Assistance programs

Discounts, payment plans and assistance program enrollments applied to accounts under the rules your utility sets.

Audit trail

Every rate change, read edit, estimate, adjustment and bill run recorded with who did it and when.

Billing specialist

Works read exceptions, held bills and account adjustments within set limits

Billing supervisor

Approves bill runs and larger adjustments and oversees the billing cycle

Customer service representative

Answers customer questions, logs disputes and requests adjustments

Meter operations staff

Reviews leak, stopped-meter and outage flags and orders field work

Rate analyst

Configures rate schedules from approved ordinances and runs rate impact tests

Auditor (read-only)

Views accounts, bills, rate history and the audit trail without changing them

Meter head-end systems

Interval and register reads, meter events and communication status from your AMI or AMR head-end systems, mapped during implementation.

Existing customer information system

Where you keep your current billing system, the Hub can send validated usage to it instead of rating bills itself.

Payment processor

Payments are taken on your processor's payment page and posted to the account. Moraph does not hold funds or store card details.

Financial system

Billed revenue, adjustments and payments posted to your general ledger.

Work order and asset management

Field checks, meter repairs and leak visits sent to your work order system, with the outcome returned.

GIS

Service locations, pressure zones and feeders from your GIS, so flags can be viewed and grouped on a map.

Bill print and notification

Bill files sent to your print vendor, and email or text notices for bills and alerts through your chosen provider.

Single sign-on

Staff sign in through your identity provider (SAML or OpenID Connect); customers use portal accounts with two-step verification.

Separate access for customers and staff

Customers see only their own accounts; staff see what their role allows.

Staff single sign-on

Staff sign in through your identity provider, so your own sign-in and multi-factor policies apply.

Encryption and keys

Meter, account and billing data is encrypted, with keys Moraph staff cannot use without explicit, time-bound authorization.

No card data held

Payments are taken on your processor's payment page. Moraph does not store card details, hold funds or move money.

Audit trail

Every read edit, estimate, rate change, adjustment and bill run recorded with who made it and when, and cannot be edited.

US hosting and assurance

Hosted in Moraph's United States region, under the controls covered by Moraph's SOC 2 Type II report and ISO/IEC 27001 certification.

Moraph cloud

Hosted by Moraph in the United States region.

Dedicated environment

Single-tenant hosting for utilities whose policies require it, scoped in the proposal.

Alongside your billing system

Used for meter data validation, detection and the customer portal, sending validated usage to the billing system you keep.

With a managed service

Optionally run with a Moraph managed service for rate changes, feed monitoring and platform administration.

Data mapping

We map your meter, account, premise and rate data to the Hub and agree the feeds from your head-end systems. We need sample extracts and contacts from your meter and billing teams.

Validation rules

Validation and estimation rules are set to match your procedures and meter types, and reviewed with your billing supervisor.

Rate configuration

Your approved rate schedules are configured and tested against past bills, and differences are reviewed with your rate analyst.

Detection tuning

Leak, stopped-meter and outage flags are tuned on your historical data so staff review flags worth acting on.

Parallel billing

Where the Hub replaces your billing calculation, it runs alongside your current system for the cycles you choose and differences are reconciled before cutover.

Training and launch

Billing, customer service and meter staff are trained on their own work, and the customer portal is launched with the communications you approve.

• The Hub does not install, read or operate meters or their communication network. It uses the data your head-end systems provide.
• It does not control the water or electric network, and it is not an outage management or SCADA system. Outage flags are based on meters losing contact and need confirmation by your operators.
• Leak and tampering flags are indications for staff to review, not findings. Detection depends on read frequency and data quality.
• Rates are set by your governing body. The Hub applies the rates you configure; it does not design or approve them.
• Moraph does not hold funds, take payments or store card details. Payments go through your payment processor.
• Disconnection, collections and deposit decisions are made by your staff under your policies and any rules that apply to your utility.
• Gas metering and wholesale energy settlement are not included.
• Customer usage and alerts in the portal are only as current as the reads delivered by your head-end systems.

• Load a sample of your own anonymized interval data and compare validation results with your current exception list
• Configure one of your current rate schedules and compare calculated bills with bills you have issued
• Review a sample of leak flags with your meter staff and judge which were worth acting on
• Ask a customer service representative to resolve a mock dispute from the account history
• Test the customer portal on a phone with a screen reader
• Confirm role separation: who can edit reads, approve adjustments and approve a bill run