Challenges Faced by Utilities Companies in the US.

As the world’s largest economy and most influential country, the United States has a strong impact on global markets. In addition to being an important trading partner for many countries around the world, it also plays an influential role in international politics and military affairs. The US utilities industry is one of the largest sectors within its economy by revenue, accounting for more than $424 billion annually.

The sector includes companies that provide electricity transmission services, natural gas distribution services, water supply services, wastewater collection systems, solid waste disposal facilities, steam generation plants (including nuclear power plants), hydroelectric dams, solar power facilities, and wind farms.

The regulatory environment for utilities companies in the US has become increasingly complex and strict. There are many federal and state regulations that must be followed, and failure to comply with these can result in high costs of compliance and risk of non-compliance. To maintain safe, fair and ethical business operations, utility companies must follow certain laws and regulations. Failing to comply with your industry’s laws and regulations can lead to legal and financial penalties, which can greatly damage your reputation and customer trust.  

The amount of laws and regulations the industry needs to follow makes regulatory utility compliance challenging. This includes guidelines from the EPA, FERC, NERC, etc., state public utility laws, as well as a slew of other local, regional, state and federal requirements. 

Having accounts payable & invoice experts extract & process data accurately while using flexible automation to increase efficiency where applicable is the first step towards this compliance. ARDEM provides 99.97% accurate, on-time, invoice management solutions for companies in a sustainable manner.

Resource management is a core concern for utilities companies. It encompasses the efficient use of resources, including water, energy and materials. The goal is to ensure reliability and efficiency of services while balancing customer needs with environmental concerns. Resource management includes: 

• Managing water usage by customers (through conservation efforts) 
• Ensuring access to safe drinking water in all communities 

The best way to know your available resources is by tracking them correctly across the chain of use. 

Solve the resource management problems with ARDEM. 

Each utility company presents utility data differently. There are hundreds of different utility companies across the country. When you have hundreds and thousands of bills from different utility companies you need a platform where normalized data from all the different utilities can be collected quickly and accurately. 

With an already large library of more than a thousand utility bill configurations, ARDEM makes data capture from utility bills a snap. No time is lost in getting new customer bills configured first before data can be collected from them. Streamline your processes further by integrating your utility bill needs with ARDEM Capture, ARDEM Workstream, and ARDEM Automation to enhance your utility invoice management solution.

The infrastructure investments are the most challenging aspect of utilities companies. The cost of upgrading aging infrastructure is high and there are many challenges to overcome in order to provide better customer service.

Growing competition from renewable energy sources. Utilities companies are facing a number of challenges, including growing competition from renewable energy sources and increasing customer demand for lower prices. In addition, utilities must provide more reliable services while still maintaining their existing infrastructure.

Data management is a challenge for many utilities companies. They have to deal with large amounts of data, which can be difficult to manage and keep accurate. There are many different types of data that need to be managed by utilities companies: 

• Customer information (e.g., names, addresses, phone numbers) 
• Billing information (e.g., payment history) 
• Meter readings (e.g., monthly usage) 
• Service request logs 

A lot of these issues require streamlining across each step and connecting the various steps in a complete chain. Double-Key and Compare Data Entry with programmatic data validation routines are in place to ensure the highest quality and accuracy of data. ARDEM Utility Bill Processing solutions can deliver accurate data from PDF, Plain Text, Email, JPG, and many additional formats of incoming bills. With extensive additional quality assurance and data validation configured into our processing platform, ARDEM can guarantee the highest accuracy of delivered data in the shortest cycle time for Utility Bill Auditing as a top document processing company. 

Utilities companies are looking to adopt new technologies in order to improve efficiency, while ensuring that their customers are satisfied with the new offerings. The adoption of new technology presents challenges for utilities companies because they must balance customer needs with cost considerations. For example, some customers may prefer a more expensive option if it provides them with better service or increased convenience. However, this can be difficult for utilities companies who need to find ways of keeping prices low so that they can remain competitive in the marketplace.

Recruiting and retaining qualified personnel is a challenge for many utilities companies. The industry has traditionally been male-dominated, but there is an increasing need for female workers as well. As the population ages, there will be an increased demand for skilled workers who can perform tasks such as repairing underground lines or installing new equipment.

In order to address these challenges, some utilities companies have begun offering training programs that provide employees with new skills (such as first aid) or certification in specialized areas like welding or electrical work. Other companies may provide financial incentives such as tuition reimbursement or bonuses based on performance evaluations. 

While utilities companies have a bouquet of continuous challenges, accounting, reporting and tracking are easily solvable with an efficient and aware partner like ARDEM. As utility bill auditing company, the process is enhanced through the use of automation technology allowing utility bill data to be flagged for any discrepancies. 

ARDEM’s Automation platform provides a variety of automation technologies that transform your current workflow. Our brilliant engineers and developers take their deep industry knowledge and our expertise to create intelligent automation solutions that are customized to reduce your operating costs. 

Technology has improved the efficiency of data capture, machine learning, RPA, and AI, but when considering costs, it becomes difficult to completely overhaul the utility bill processing department without meeting challenges. Rather than paying large overhead costs for equipment and IT support, businesses choose to outsource utility bill tasks to reduce cycle times and operational costs. 

ARDEM provides Business Process Outsourcing and Business Process Automation Services to established companies to help them improve operational Efficiency and Reduce Costs.  For more information please reach out to us at pricing@ardem.com or call us at 908-359-2600.