Miami, FL, March 18, 2003 -- Peace Software and Palmerston North City Council today celebrated their successful 12-year water billing partnership.
Since 1991, the city council has used Peace Software's Energy(tm) suite for billing and customer care of its metered water customers in Palmerston North, New Zealand. This has resulted in significant cost efficiencies.
Mike Manson, business development executive at Palmerston North City Council, said, "We are running a streamlined operation with Energy. It costs us a fraction of what we were paying in support and maintenance costs for our customized legacy system."
"Energy has also enabled us to reduce our meter reading costs through bimonthly and quarterly billing, and its sophisticated billing and credit control functions have helped us to improve cash flow through better credit management," said Manson.
Designed with the water utility in mind, the Energy suite covers a broad scope of water functionality, including meter reading, customer care, billing and Internet self-service. It automates business processes and provides comprehensive customer care across multiple products and services, including water, waste water, energy commodity and other products and services.
Palmerston North City Council deployed Energy originally for consolidated billing of its 30,000 water, electricity and gas customers. In 1994, the city council sold its electricity and gas customer bases and had no hesitation in retaining Energy for water customer management.
Manson said, "Energy is a rock solid system that operates like clockwork. Our business strategy has changed dramatically over the past twelve years yet the flexible Energy system has adapted well and remains our water customer management platform of choice."
About Peace Software
Peace Software is a software developer of utility customer management solutions. The company's browser-based Energy suite has been selected by leading regulated and competitive utilities to drive efficient operations and provide excellent customer care for 13 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in 40 markets around the world.
The Energy suite can be phased into existing IT environments one component at a time, and new version upgrades are available every 12-18 months. Founded in 1984, Peace Software has offices in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. For more information, visit www.peace.com
