Consumption Processing

Learn about measurement of consumption by Utility and its transfer to CIS system.

Utilities are responsible for reading the service meters and sending the information via electronic transactions to the Suppliers each month or upon request. See 867 in Transactions.

These electronic transactions contain, at a high level, the start and end period (dates) for the reading, the amount of the commodity consumed at the meter location (premises), and information regarding the meter itself, such as a multiplier, number of dials etc.

This consumption is received in the market database and then sent to billing database of the CIS system. Once the measurement is received by the CIS billing database and the consumption is reflected on the CSR site, it is ready to be billed/invoiced.

Consumption Processing are of two types:

  • Interval - The interval meter measures consumption at the interval of 15 minutes (for ERCOT market) and 30 minutes (for COMED market). Each reading is sent to the Supplier. This is according to the Customer's business needs and market requirements.

  • Non-Interval - The consumption is measured once in a month. The Utility sends a single reading to the Supplier for billing.

The translation of the file information as received from the market into a PRISM format is applicable to all except Texas Utilities. Texas EDI transactions are imported directly into CIS without translation.

The translation can come in CSV, XML, or other formats as needed in different markets.