Retrieve the bill and the filed tariff sheet that priced it, explain the charge against that sheet, surface the escalation route, and leave the arrangement itself to a billing adviser.
Ingesting the account, the disputed bill and the tariff schedule in effect from supported billing, CIS or meter-data sources.
02
Normalising rate codes, meter reads and charge lines, and carrying each one forward with its source.
Reason
03
Explaining each charge against the filed sheet that priced it, line by line.
04
Applying the jurisdiction, rate class and tariff version configured for that account.
05
Citing the tariff sheet and its effective date rather than paraphrasing a rate.
Decide
06
Flagging a meter doubt, a high-bill enquiry or a hardship signal as a dispute, not an enquiry.
07
Routing arrangements, adjustments and disconnection questions to a billing adviser.
Out
08
Retaining the enquiry, the sheet cited, the adviser's answer and the escalation offered against the account.
09
Executing write actions only inside the approval boundaries agreed during implementation.
→Product statement
The agent explains and cites; a billing adviser decides what is charged, adjusted or arranged, and the utility answers to the regulator for the tariff.
Example workflow
One enquiry, bill to answer
AgentHuman
1Bill enquiry receivedPhone, web chat, email or a callback from the billing queue
2Bill and tariff retrievedThe billed period, the meter reads, the rate class and the sheet in effect for it
3Explanation draftedCharge lines, the sheet cited and confidence
4Controls appliedTariff-citation checks, jurisdiction rules, dispute-signal flags and confidence threshold
No human action required
Stages 1 to 4 run unaided, and nothing is charged, adjusted or arranged at any of them — the adviser's lane opens at the confidence gate.
5DecisionDivides at the confidence threshold
High confidence
Goes to the billing adviser to release.
Low confidence
Adds a tariff-desk read first.
Adviser review
The answer is held with the sheet it cites, its dispute flags and the confidence.
Approve · Correct · Send to tariff desk
Approved — released to the customer▼
6Billing record updatedOnly where write access and approval policy allow it
7Outcome evaluatedCitation accuracy, adviser corrections, dispute classification and repeat contacts
Corrections
Each adviser correction is counted in the evaluation.
What should not run autonomously
Human approval stays in control
Outside the boundary — human approval required8 items
Quoting a rate that is not on the filed sheet.
Agreeing a payment arrangement outside the tariff.
Disconnecting service, or restoring it afterwards.
Deciding a medical-necessity or hardship claim.
Automation boundaryAgent acts unaided
✓Retrieve the bill and the filed tariff sheet that priced it.
✓Explain each charge against that sheet and its effective date.
✓Record a doubt about the meter or the bill as a dispute.
✓Surface the escalation route and hold the answer for an adviser.
Any write happens inside the boundaries agreed at implementation, never ahead of the adviser.
Adjusting a bill, waiving a charge or issuing a credit.
Issuing an estimated bill, or the true-up after it.
Determining eligibility for an assistance programme.
Changes to tariff mapping or escalation thresholds.
Example output
One bill enquiry, annotated
Everything the agent says is attached to the sheet it was read from.
Billing answer · single enquiryIllustrative example
Account
Charge explained
Billed amount
Tariff sheet cited
Confidence
Escalation
Residential electric
Summer usage crossing two tier thresholds
$318.42
Filed Schedule E-1
91%
PUC complaint route stated
As receivedTaken from the billing record and the tariff sheet in effect — nothing on this side is written by the agent.
Tariff basis usedFiled rate scheduleMeter reads of recordTier thresholds on the sheet
Why this answerIt cites the sheet that priced the bill rather than restating a rate.
ActionApproveCorrectSend to tariff desk
What the score decidesBelow the configured threshold the answer picks up a tariff-desk read before it.
Value
Where AI adds value
The same four claims, placed at the point in the workflow where each one applies.
Where the value landsValue 01 – 04
Every bill enquiryFrom the billing record
03Explanation
Read the sheet that priced it
Draw on the filed tariff, the meter reads and the back-billing and notice rules configured for that jurisdiction.
01Approved path
Read the tariff, not around it
Routine charge explanations arrive already cited to a sheet.
02Human review
Put advisers where the dispute is
Dispute signals and low-confidence answers are marked, so the adviser's read starts where the exposure sits.
04Build an evidence trail
The answer, the tariff sheet behind it and the adviser who released it stay on the account.
Integrations
Typical integrations
Five system groups connect to the same agent. Which of them are in scope is decided in discovery.
Billing and CISOracle CC&B · SAP IS-U Hansen · Gentrack
Metering and usageMDMS · AMI head-end Green Button exports
Tariff and ratesFiled tariff library Rate engine · rate schedules
Agent
Billing & tariff support
Reads the bill Cites the sheet Holds for an adviser
Contact and workflowSalesforce · Genesys Case and complaint systems
Break the correction rate down by rate class before you trust it. A small number of billing cohorts absorb most of the rework, so Nestack reports the adviser-correction rate by slice, not only in total.
Slice performance — reported separately, not only in aggregateIllustrative example
Slice
Failure rate
Lift
Lift vs. threshold
Status
Back-billed and make-up bills
5.3%
3.4×
Review
Estimated-read accounts
4.5%
2.9×
Review
Time-of-use and demand rates
2.8%
1.8×
Watch
Standard single-rate bills
1.1%
0.7×
Normal
Bar: adviser-correction-rate lift vs. single-rate baseline · scale 0–4.0× · tick marks the 2.0× review threshold2 of 4 slices over threshold
Evidence-linked improvement
A cycle ends in a test, not an apology
The loop shuts when the miss is a case in the suite, not when it has been explained. That suite is what the next bill enquiry answered is measured against.
Improvement cycle · five stagesSwitchback — the path turns at Improve and returns at Learn
01Detect
Adviser-correction rate rises in a rate class.
02Diagnose
Pull the enquiries and the sheets cited behind them until the cause narrows to one.
03Improve
Whatever changes ships against a version, with the enquiries that prompted it attached.
04Verify
Nothing ships until the affected cases pass a second time.
05Learn
The suite grows by one case; so does the tariff mapping.
Learn → DetectThe return edge. The next detection is measured against a longer suite than this one.
Typical build scope
Twelve workstreams across six weeks
The build scope read against the delivery timeline. Week structure follows the six-week plan — discovery, sources, enquiry workflow, evaluation, integration, then production validation and handover.
WorkstreamWeek 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
01Billing workflow discovery and automation-boundary definition.
02Billing, CIS and meter source assessment.
03Tariff mapping, rate classes and jurisdiction rules.
04Bill and tariff-sheet retrieval.
05Explanation logic and citation binding.
06Confidence scoring and dispute routing.
07Adviser review workflow.
08Billing-system and CIS integration.
09Rate-citation regression cases.
10Guardrails and escalation controls.
11Enquiry-trail instrumentation.
12Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover.
12 workstreams · 6 weeks · bar shows the weeks a workstream is active — several run in parallelFinal scope and sequence confirmed in discovery
Engagement tiers
What each tier includes
Rows are the capabilities named in each tier's scope. Higher tiers include everything below them.
Capability✓ in scope · — not at this tierPilotOne rate class, one jurisdictionProductionProduction billing systemsAdvancedMultiple jurisdictions / tariffs
Introduced at Pilot
Explanation cited to the filed sheet✓✓✓
Adviser release✓✓✓
Citation-accuracy baseline✓✓✓
Introduced at Production
Reporting by rate class—✓✓
Adviser review in your systems—✓✓
Approved write-back—✓✓
Billing-system integration—✓✓
Introduced at Advanced
Multi-state billing rules——✓
Multi-stage billing approvals——✓
High enquiry volume——✓
Multi-jurisdiction tariff controls——✓
Build priceFrom $5,000From $8,000Custom quote
Final build priceConfirmed after discovery based on integrations, workflow complexity, transaction volume, approval controls and deployment requirements.
Separate from buildBuild pricing is separate from recurring Agent Care, which covers managed monitoring, evaluations, incidents and verified improvements after launch.
What we need from you
What you bring, and what we build with it
Each input maps to a piece of build scope and a week in the delivery timeline.
You bringWe build with it
01Your bill formats and the accounts behind them→Bill and tariff-sheet retrieval and field mappingWeek 1
02Representative bill enquiries and the answers given→Explanation baseline and tariff-sheet citation bindingWeek 2
03Your filed tariff sheets and their effective dates→Tariff mapping, rate classes and jurisdiction rulesWeek 1
04Access to relevant APIs, feeds or exports→Billing, CIS and metering assessment, then integration setupWeek 2
05Answers you would not want relied on→Citation cases and failure-mode testingWeek 4
06Where an answer must stop and wait for an adviser→Confidence scoring, dispute routing, guardrails and escalation controlsWeek 3
07Named billing advisers to release answers→Adviser review workflow, then pilot and production validationWeeks 5–6
Nothing else is requiredDeployment, documentation and Agent Care handover are ours.
Delivery timeline
Four phases across six weeks
The bands follow real work rather than a plan, so evaluation and pilot genuinely share the fifth week.
PhaseW1W2W3W4W5W6
DiscoveryW1
BuildW2 – W3
EvaluateW4 – W5
Pilot & LaunchW5 – W6
Week focusW1Billing workflow discovery, tariff mapping and the automation boundaryW2Billing and metering integration, and the explanation baselineW3Enquiry workflow, confidence logic and escalation controlsW4Evaluation suite, citation checks and failure-mode testingW5Billing-system integration, pilot enquiries and targeted correctionsW6One billing cycle answered under supervision, then Agent Care handover
Reading the bandA band covers the weeks its work is named in, and nothing else. The week 5 overlap is real, not padding.
At the end of W6Once the cycle validates, Agent Care owns the running agent.
DurationSix-week plan shown · typical delivery 4–6 weeks depending on scope confirmed in discovery.
Next step · Energy AI agent
Build a billing agent around your filed tariff, not around your call scripts.
Show us your bill enquiries, the tariff sheets behind them and who releases an answer. If you bring those, we'll map the workflow, set the automation boundary and name what stays with the adviser.
