A service point represents a delivery services rate classification (i.e., DS1, DS2, DS3, DS4, DS5, and DS6). Multiple service points may be linked to one account, and each service point may have one or more meters associated with it.
Many attributes are assigned at the service point level – such as peak load contribution (PLC), load profile classification, delivery voltage, supply voltage, and meter voltage. Therefore, an account that is composed of multiple service points will have multiple PLC assignments (i.e. one for each service point), multiple delivery voltage assignments, etc. It is imperative that Retail Electric Suppliers track service point numbers and their associated attributes.
EDI 867MU transactions are produced one per service point. For example, if an account has three service points, then when the account bills each month, three EDI 867MU transactions (one for each service point) will be produced. If an account is being billed utilizing the Bill Ready UCB/POR billing option, then the RES must return an EDI 810 transaction to Ameren for each service point.
For a visual depiction of Ameren's Account > Service Point > Meter hierarchy, please review Appendix A of the RES Handbook (PDF).
The Ameren billing window is a four business day period of time that extends from two business days prior to an account’s scheduled meter reading date to one business day after an account’s scheduled meter reading date. On-cycle enrollments occur within an account’s billing window and may occur on a non-business day if the non-business day falls within the billing window.
To view a table listing Ameren’s scheduled meter reading dates, please see Ameren’s Scheduled Meter Reading Dates page.
The enrollment blackout window is the minimum period of time prior to an account's scheduled meter reading date required in order for an EDI 814E-Request transaction to effectuate as of the account's next scheduled meter reading date.
For a Mass Market account, the enrollment blackout window period varies based on when the tenth calendar day of the enrollment rescission window falls. If the tenth calendar day of the enrollment rescission window falls on a weekend day or a holiday, then it gets extended until the next business day. In addition, the last day of the enrollment rescission window may not encroach upon the Ameren billing window. The Ameren billing window begins two business days prior to an account's scheduled meter reading date. Thus, to cover all possible scenarios, a RES should plan to submit an enrollment for a Mass Market account before 6:45 p.m. Central Prevailing Time at least 17 calendar days prior to the account's scheduled meter reading date. If this rule is followed, then the enrollment will always effectuate as of the account's next scheduled meter reading date.
For a non-Mass Market account, there is a seven calendar day enrollment blackout window. This means that an enrollment must be submitted before 6:45 p.m. Central Prevailing Time at least seven calendar days prior to the account's scheduled meter reading date for an on-cycle enrollment or at least seven calendar days prior to the requested enrollment effective date for an off-cycle enrollment.
First, note that enrollments are effectuated at the service point level and not at the account level. So, an on-cycle enrollment for an account with multiple electric service points could have a slightly different enrollment effective date for each service point on the account. Please reference the "What is a service point?" FAQ for a definition of a service point.
On-cycle enrollment of a scalar metered service point:
On-cycle enrollment of an interval metered service point:
Off-cycle enrollment of a scalar metered service point:
Off-cycle enrollment of an interval metered service point:
For an on-cycle enrollment, Ameren returns the account’s scheduled meter reading date as the enrollment effective date. However, since Ameren has a four business day billing window (extending from two business days prior to an account’s scheduled meter reading date to one business day after an account’s scheduled meter reading date) the actual enrollment effective date can occur anytime – including a non-business day – within that window.
Since Ameren doesn’t know – at the time EDI 814E-Request transaction is submitted – what the specific enrollment effective date is going to be, the scheduled meter reading date is returned as a placeholder for the enrollment effective date. Again, the actual enrollment effective date could vary by up to two business days prior to the account’s scheduled meter reading date to one business day after the account’s scheduled meter reading date.
Some accounts, typically larger commercial or industrial accounts, are calendar-month billed. With calendar-month billing, any non-lighting electric service points on such accounts are billed in calendar-month increments. Note that if a calendar-month billed account has a lighting service point, then the lighting service point may not necessarily bill in calendar-month increments (although the non-lighting service points will).
There are three types of calendar-month billing: beginning of the month, middle of the month, and end of the month. The vast majority of calendar-month billed accounts are end of the month. This means that the non-lighting service points on such accounts always bill through the last calendar day of each month. There are a small number of beginning of the month calendar-billed accounts. The non-lighting service points on these accounts bill through the first day of each month. Middle of the month calendar-billed accounts are extremely rare.
The vast majority of calendar-month billed accounts are assigned to bill group 21, although there are some in bill groups 20 and 01. Note that these three bill groups are not set aside just for calendar-month billed accounts. In other words, most accounts that are assigned to these bill groups are not calendar-month billed.
For a non-residential calendar-month billed account, the account’s scheduled meter reading date is not used as the point from which the seven calendar day enrollment/drop blackout period is calculated.
Instead, for a non-residential end of the month calendar-billed account, an enrollment or drop transaction must be received by Ameren no later than 6:45 p.m. Central Prevailing Time seven calendar days prior to the last calendar day of the month. For a beginning of the month calendar-month billed account, an enrollment or drop transaction must be received by Ameren no later than 6:45 p.m. Central Prevailing Time seven calendar days prior to the first calendar day of the month. In cases where the seventh calendar day falls on a weekend day or a holiday, the enrollment or drop transaction must be received by Ameren no later than 6:45 p.m. Central Prevailing Time the first business day prior to that weekend day or holiday.
To rescind a pending enrollment request, a RES must submit an EDI 814D-Request transaction to Ameren and include the REF*1P*EB3 segment within the transaction, which indicates that the reason for the request is an enrollment rescission. To ensure that this transaction is successfully processed by Ameren, it should be sent prior to the start of the account's billing window (for an on-cycle enrollment) or prior to the requested effective date (for an off-cycle enrollment). After Ameren processes the transaction, the account will revert to its current RES, who will receive an EDI 814R-Request (reinstatement) transaction.
To cancel a pending drop request, a RES must submit an EDI 814D-Request transaction to Ameren and include a cancel indicator. A cancel drop request transaction from the RES to Ameren contains the same information as a drop response transaction, although the ASI code is set to “026” instead of “024”. To ensure that this transaction is successfully processed by Ameren, it should be sent prior to the start of the account's billing window (for an on-cycle drop) or prior to the requested effective date (for an off-cycle drop).
Typically, the earliest that a new account or service point can be enrolled to RES supply is effective with the account's or service point's second meter reading date. If the customer wants to begin service with a RES as of the start date of the new account or new service point, then the following steps must be followed:
Note that the onus is always on the customer to keep their RES or their prospective RES aware of any changes to their accounts. This includes the splitting of an account currently supplied by a RES, the addition of a new account, and any changes to the anticipated start date of a new account.
A RES that wants to enroll an account but only supply part of the account’s load (a.k.a. Partial Requirements Supply Service) should notify their account representative in the Ameren Transmission Services Business Center prior to submitting the EDI 814E-Request enrollment transaction to Ameren. This will allow Ameren time to make the necessary billing system preparations for the enrollment. In addition, the customer must execute a written agreement with Ameren that records the portion of its electric power to be supplied by the RES and the portion of its electric power to be supplied by Ameren via Rider HSS (Hourly Supply Service).
For more information on Partial Requirements Supply Service, please refer to Rider HSS, which can be downloaded from the Rates section of ameren.com.
If a RES-supplied customer declares bankruptcy, then each Ameren account associated with that customer will be finaled (closed) - thus triggering the generation of one or more EDI 814D-Request transactions to the customer’s RES. If the customer stays in business despite the bankruptcy and wishes to continue with electric service, then a new account or accounts will be set up for the customer. The new account(s) will automatically be assigned to the RES that was supplying the finaled account(s).
To communicate the enrollment of the new account(s), EDI 814E-Response transaction(s) will be generated by Ameren and sent to the RES. In the EDI 814E-Response transaction(s), BGN06 will be noted with “MANUAL”, the REF*45 segment will show the old account number, and the REF*1P segment will reveal a descriptive code. The REF1P descriptive code will show one of two possible codes: "BNK" (for a customer bankruptcy) or "UIE" (Utility Initiated Enrollment - for any reason other than a bankruptcy).
The designation in the EDI 867MU transaction that a meter’s usage is subtractive can be found on the REF segment when element one is “JH” and element two is “S” (the “S” stands for “Subtractive”). Thus, a subtractive meter is denoted in the EDI 867MU transaction as follows: REF*JH*S.
Conversely, a typical non-subtractive meter is noted as REF*JH*A in the EDI 867MU transaction (where the “A” stands for “Additive”).
On the spring forward day, the hourly interval meter data in the EDI 867MU transaction will only contain 23 values, with no interval read for hour ending 3:00. For this date, the hourly readings will be for hours ending 1:00, 2:00, 4:00, ...
On the fall back day, the hourly interval meter data in the EDI 867MU transaction will contain 25 values, with two interval reads for hour ending 2:00. For this date the hourly readings will be for hours ending 1:00, 2:00, 2:00, 3:00,
For most interval metered accounts, reads are taken at the end of each hour, and 15, 30, and 45 minutes after each hour. However, Ameren does not provide 15 minute interval data in the EDI 867MU transaction. Instead, Ameren provides hourly interval data in the EDI 867MU transaction. Since a billing period can end in-between hours, Ameren accounts for this by showing that hour twice – once in two separate EDI 867MU transactions.
The first time that the hour is shown is as the final hour of a billing period. The usage for that hour will not represent a full hours’ worth of data, but will instead represent the usage up through when the read was taken. For example, if the final read for a billing period was taken at 14:30, then the usage shown in the EDI 867MU transaction for hour ending 15:00 will only be for the first 30 minutes of the hour.
The second time that the hour is shown is as the first hour in the EDI 867MU transaction for the next billing period. The usage for that billing period will not represent a full hours’ worth of data, but will instead represent the usage from the time of the end read of the previous billing period through the end of that hour. For example, if the last read from the previous billing period was taken at 14:30, then the usage shown in the EDI 867MU transaction for hour ending 15:00 will only be for the final 30 minutes of the hour.
Each RES that registers with Ameren is required – at minimum – to have the ability to utilize dual billing. Other billing options that are available are: Supplier Consolidated Billing (a.k.a. "SBO") and Utility Consolidated Billing / Purchase of Receivables (a.k.a. "UCB/POR").
There are two types of Supplier Consolidated Billing: Agent and Guarantor. A RES that utilizes the Supplier Consolidated Billing option must choose either Agent or Guarantor when executing the Supplier Consolidated Billing Agreement with Ameren. With the Agent option, the RES simply pays Ameren for the customer's delivery services charges upon receipt of payment from the customer. With the Guarantor option, the RES is required to purchase the delivery services receivables regardless of whether the customer pays the RES for them.
UCB/POR may only be utilized on accounts that contain one or more of only the following types of service points: DS1, DS2, DS3A, and/or DS5. If an account contains a DS3B or a DS4 service point, then it is not eligible to be billed via UCB/POR. Ameren offers two types of UCB/POR: Bill Ready and Rate Ready. In the UCB/POR Billing Services Agreement that is executed between the RES and Ameren, the RES must choose to use either one or both of these types of UCB/POR.
Supply voltage is the voltage of the feeder line from which a service point is supplied. Delivery voltage is the voltage at the point of connection between the utility’s facilities and the customer’s facilities. Meter voltage is the voltage at the point where the meter is connected.
If the supply voltage and the delivery voltage are different, then the customer’s account is billed a transformation charge. This charge is described in the applicable Delivery Services tariffs.
If the meter voltage and delivery voltage are different, then the service point’s metered usage is adjusted before applying any applicable delivery or power supply rates. The most common reason for the meter voltage and the delivery voltage being different is that the meter is installed at a location of convenience.
For example, assume that a customer’s service point is served at 12kV (primary voltage). However, the utility owned transformer that takes the voltage from 34kv (high voltage) to 12kv (primary voltage) is located inside the customer's security area. For the convenience of reading the meter, the meter may be located on the high side of the transformer that is outside of the security area. In this scenario, the service point would have a delivery voltage classified as primary voltage and a meter voltage classified as high voltage. Since delivery services rates are dependent on a service point’s delivery voltage, the usage readings taken from the meter (which is at high voltage in this scenario) must be adjusted before calculating billing charges.