Util-Assist has successfully transitioned Haldimand County to a new solution for water and wastewater billing. With Hydro One’s recent purchase of Haldimand County Hydro, Haldimand needed to deploy a new billing solution in a very short timeframe. Util-Assist was selected to manage the conversion to Util-Assist’s NorthStar Customer Information System platform and then assume ongoing billing and call centre services.
Util-Assist offers a turnkey solution to address Haldimand County’s challenge, including billing, 24 x 7 customer service, cash processing, and collections. With established processes, state-of-the-art infrastructure and extensive experience, Util-Assist was able to transition the business quickly and efficiently, helping to ensure that Haldimand County was in production by the March deadline and that there were no delays in billing revenues. Util-Assist has successfully issued the first set of bills and is now providing 24 x 7 customer service to Haldimand County customers.
Mike Fabrizi, Manager of Project Management and Value Growth at Hydro One, had accolades for Util-Assist: Your team is “a large part of history-making. Within three months, Haldimand County now has a working system and a new provider—a record as far as I’m concerned. Thanks for helping Haldimand County.”
Haldimand County’s billing contract with Util-Assist is for ten years. One of the deciding factors in Haldimand County’s decision to award the work to Util-Assist was that Util-Assist is also contracted to convert Haldimand Hydro’s electricity data to the new Hydro One billing platform. As a result, Util-Assist is familiar with the customer database. Util-Assist has provided billing and customer service functions for water and electric utilities since 2007 and currently supports a co-operative of nine local distribution companies, plus two sub-metering companies, representing over 150,000 accounts. Further, having completed 14 successful conversions and 10 successful upgrades in the past 5 years, Util-Assist offered the experience to ensure a seamless transition to the new platform.
About Haldimand County
Haldimand is located within Ontario’s most populous region, the Golden Horseshoe. The County stretches north from Lake Erie, with 83 km of Lake Erie shoreline and is also home to the picturesque Canadian Heritage Grand River. Haldimand County has a population of 44,876 and covers 1,251 square km of a predominantly rural landscape.
Haldimand County serves the localities of Caledonia, Hagersville, Cayuga, Dunnville, Jarvis, Townsend and Selkirk. For more information, visit www.haldimandcounty.on.ca.