Customer & Account Types

Learn the Customer types and the differences in functionality within CIS to support each type.

Along with the different Customer types, there are different account structures and functionality within CIS for the purpose of organizing and managing the data depending upon the Customer type, the services they receive and the markets in which they are served.

Customer Types

There are three primary Customer Types serviced within CIS:

  • Residential - Customer who lives in a residential home or apartment.
  • Commercial – Customer with a business location that provides goods or services to consumers.
  • Property – Owner of multifamily units that are rented to Residential Customers.

Account Types

There are three Customer Account Structures serviced within CIS for the purpose of managing the Customer data:

  • Master Customer Account
  • Location Master Account
  • Customer Account

Master Customer Account

A Master Customer is a “place holder” account that allows multi-level organizational hierarchies to be constructed. Mainly used for Commercial Customers, Master Customers have no service addresses, meters, consumption, or Transactions. Master Customers are used to group Customer Accounts. This structure allows the Customer to track data of “Customer accounts” at an aggregate level under that Master. It also allows the flexibility to easily arrange accounts into an infinite array of possibilities. Other benefits of this account structure include summary bill presentation, summary payment management, and summary reporting.

Location Master Account

A Location Master account is a “place holder” account used to group Customer Accounts who are receiving multiple commodity services, i.e. Gas and Electric. Location Masters have no service addresses, meters, consumption, or Transactions. Also, Location Masters do not function in the same manner as Master Customers in that they cannot have Master Customers assigned to them. The only types of accounts assigned to Location Masters are their Customer Accounts having multiple commodity services provided at the same location. This structure however, does not prevent a Location Master from being assigned to a Master Customer.

Customer Account

A Customer Account is for a single Customer receiving one commodity. This account structure holds all the basic information about that Customer, such as billing address, service address, meter information, consumption, Transactions, account balance, invoices, payments, and Customer communications. Customer Accounts can be directly linked to either a Location Master or a Master Customer Account.