Energy and utilities

Energy and utilities software development

We build metering, billing and field service systems for energy and water suppliers and network operators. In energy and utilities software development, time works differently. Equipment can stay in service for forty years, meter readings never stop coming, and a small billing error can grow for months before a customer rings to complain.

Rows of solar panels in a green valley

Check your data before you bill

Metering, billing and field systems built to cope with decades of messy readings.

Systems we build

  • Metering dataReadings collected, checked and corrected
  • Billing supportCalculations customers can actually follow
  • Outage handlingCustomers told what is going on
  • Field serviceJobs sent out with full asset history
  • Asset recordsKeeps equipment history older than your systems
  • Customer portalsUsage, bills and readings in one place
Discuss your project
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  • Fixed estimate before work begins
For utilities and energy suppliers

Energy and utilities software we build

Metering data

We collect, check and correct meter readings, even as the number arriving grows year after year.

Billing support

Bills customers can follow. When someone queries one, your team can show exactly how it was worked out.

Outage handling

Fault reports are gathered and grouped into incidents, and customers hear what's wrong and when power or water should be back.

Field service

Engineers get their jobs and the full history of the equipment they're visiting, and the app keeps working without a signal.

Asset records

Location, condition and repair history for each piece of equipment, often older than the system recording it.

Customer portals

Customers see their usage, pay bills and submit readings in one place, so fewer of them need to call you.

Why meter data changes the design

Meter data keeps piling up, and it's never fully clean. Some readings arrive late or in the wrong order. Some come in twice, and a few are simply wrong. A billing system that trusts them all sends wrong bills, which are slow to fix and cost you customer trust. So checking and correcting readings is the main part of the work.

Your equipment also outlasts your software. A pump or substation installed decades ago will see several systems come and go, so its records and reference numbers have to stay the same through every change.

Regulation and customer duties

Obligations built into the system

  • Billing accuracy. Every bill can be explained to the customer and to the regulator, because the inputs behind it are kept.
  • Vulnerable customers. The system gives people on a priority register the right treatment during outages and debt recovery.
  • Metering standards. Readings are checked and corrected using the rules of the market you operate in.
  • Outage reporting. How long each incident lasted and how many customers it hit are recorded accurately, since your performance is judged on them.
  • Long retention. Usage and equipment history is kept for many years and can still be read after you change systems.

Systems we usually connect to

Meter data collection systemsBilling and finance platformsAsset and network recordsField service and workforce schedulingMarket and settlement data exchangesCustomer contact and notification channels

We begin by connecting to the metering, billing and outage systems you already run. If one of them is working, it stays unless you and we agree, with good reason, to retire it. If a system does move, our cloud migration checklist covers each step of doing it without an outage.

From readings to rollout

How we deliver a utility project

  1. Test the data honestly

    We take a batch of your real readings and show you how much is late, duplicated or wrong. The design follows from what we find.

    Week 1 to 3
  2. Build validation first

    We write the rules for correcting and estimating readings before building anything that bills from them.

    Week 3 to 8
  3. Add the customer view

    Once the figures underneath can be trusted, we build the customer portal and the alerts customers receive.

    Week 8 to 16
  4. Run in parallel

    The new calculations run alongside your current ones. When the two agree, the new ones take over.

    Week 16 onward

Most projects fall within these ranges. They stretch if your historical readings are in poor shape, if billing changes need approval from the market or regulator, or if a change freeze applies around peak winter demand. Read how our delivery process works for the detail.

For customers and engineers

Where utilities see the difference

Fewer billing queries

When readings are checked before a bill goes out, many of the disputes that used to follow never start.

Shorter outages

Grouping fault reports and sending the right engineer sooner cuts the wait between a fault and a fix.

Records that survive

An asset's history stays readable long after the system that first recorded it has gone.

Asked by utilities

Common questions from utilities

No. Messy data is normal, and sorting it out is the work. We first measure how messy yours is, then build the rules to check, estimate and correct readings before anything bills from them.

Usually, yes. Most billing platforms accept checked usage figures through a set interface. The safer route is to leave billing where it is and improve the data going into it.

Yes. Jobs and equipment history are stored on the device, engineers record their work offline, and it all syncs when the signal comes back. That includes two engineers updating the same asset.

Bring us your hardest meter data

Tell us where readings, bills or outage updates go wrong, and we'll suggest where to start.