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Disconnection Compliance Review

Disconnection compliance review that checks every account against every protection, and cites the rule

No wrongful shutoffs: every protection checked, every rule cited.

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See one case, screen by screen ↓
target0homescut off in a heat alert or with a medical certificate or life-support need; nobody may override those two gates
target100%of accounts on every list checked against all six protections, each with its clause cited, not a one-in-ten sample
demo61of 7,121of August's disconnections would have been stopped when last month's lists were replayed through the gates; 38 of them later complained or were reconnected within 48 hours
estimated≈ AED 1Ma yearin urgent reconnections and redress avoided: 680 wrongful cut-offs × AED 1,420
The problem

Why a wrongful shutoff still gets through the evening check

Every evening billing proposes tomorrow's disconnections for non-payment. Before a meter is switched off, collections has to be sure the final notice and the reminder were served on time, that nobody in the home is on the medical register, that no payment plan or assistance application is in force, that no dispute or complaint is open, that tomorrow is not too hot to cut anyone off, and that the customer has not just told us they are in hardship. Those six protections sit in five systems and a weather website: the print-and-text log, the care system, the CIS, the complaints tool and the call recordings.

So a team of three checks about one account in ten by hand before the 17:30 sign-off, and the forecast and what the customer said on the phone are rarely checked at all. That is how a medical certificate filed on paper never gets keyed, a final notice comes back undelivered, a plan agreed on a call is never set up, and a heat alert issued at 15:00 for tomorrow is missed. With smart meters a disconnection happens in seconds, so the check has to be right before the order goes, not after a crew arrives. A miss costs an urgent reconnection, redress, a complaint to the regulator, a finding in the monthly return and, in a heatwave, a safety incident.

typical3.5millionUS utility shut-offs projected for 2024
typical33statesin the US with no summer shut-off protection
typical$250–$500a visitfor a utility truck roll, before redress, when a wrongful cut-off has to be reconnected
Where an evening's checking hours goestimated
By hand4.5 days
With the solution1.3 days
  • Cutting the list and taking out accounts that paid0.5 → 0.1 d
  • Proving the final notice and the 48-hour reminder were delivered1 → 0.1 d
  • Medical register, plans, assistance applications and disputes, system by system1.5 → 0.2 d
  • Tomorrow's forecast and heat alerts, zone by zone0.3 → 0.1 d
  • Recent calls, chats and emails for signs of hardship0.3 → 0.2 d
  • Deciding the exceptions and signing the release1 → 0.6 d

Estimated split for one evening's disconnection list, in person-hours. By hand, a team of three covers about one account in ten; with the solution all 642 accounts are checked in an 11-minute run and the time left is people deciding the exceptions and signing.

How it works

How an account is checked

Six agents run every account through six protection gates; a compliance officer decides exceptions and the supervisor signs.

What comes in
Tonight's list6 sources · billing list, notices, registers, disputes, forecast, contacts
Agents at work
List builderpaid removed, orders split
Then
Notice checker
Protection checkermedical, plans, disputes
Then
Weather watchertomorrow's forecast by zone
Hardship listenerwhat the customer said
Then
Evidence writerclause on every record
A person decides
Collections and compliancedecide exceptions, sign the release
What comes out
Cleared or stopped, rule cited
Exceptions for a person
Evidence for the regulator
One case, step by step

One evening's list, from billing to a signed release

Lumina Utilities supplies electricity and water across eight service zones. On Wednesday 9 September at 16:30, billing proposes 679 accounts for disconnection on Thursday 10 September. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 0116:40

    679 proposed, 642 checked

    List builder

    The list builder takes billing's list and drops the 37 accounts that paid before the run, so 642 accounts with AED 1,184,620 overdue go through the gates. Under the gates, the run log records each agent's step with its time, from 16:40 to 16:51. The notice checker matches 642 final notices and reminders to the print and text logs and stops 21: 6 letters returned, 9 texts failed and 6 sent too late.

    “Evidence writer · 642 decision records, each with its clause and evidence”

  2. 0216:42–16:45

    Medical needs, plans and disputes stop the accounts they protect

    Protection checker

    The protection checker reads the medical register and 214 certificates, 1,096 payment plans, 88 assistance applications, and every dispute and complaint, with Lumina and with the regulator. The medical gate protects 9 homes: 3 on life support and 6 with certificates, among them Hamad Al Suwaidi in Qamar Hills, on the life-support register with a home ventilator since March 2024. The plan gate stops 41, the dispute gate 14, including 6 complaints with the regulator.

    Medical register, CPC 6.1: “Nobody may override”

  3. 0316:47

    A heat alert holds three zones through Monday

    Weather watcher

    The weather watcher reads tomorrow's forecast for all eight zones from the national weather service feed, issued at 15:00. Sahra Gardens and Qamar Hills have heat alerts at 46°C and Falcon Ridge is forecast at the 45°C limit, so 38, 31 and 17 homes are held, 86 in all, to Monday 14 September. The 52 commercial accounts in those zones pass, because the rule protects homes.

    “A re-check may add holds; it never lifts one early.” Next pull: Thursday 05:30.

  4. 0416:49

    What customers on the list told us, word for word

    Hardship listener

    The hardship listener reads 1,284 calls, chats, emails and app messages from the last 14 days. 214 mention the bill or money; 25 say hardship, and each is quoted with its channel and time. 17 are stopped at the hardship gate, 6 were already held by the weather gate and keep a hardship note, and 2 said something unclear, so a person decides.

    Priya Raman, chat: “Things are a bit tight this month.” Unclear, so it goes to a person, never stopped or passed alone.

  5. 0516:51

    One account, traced through the six gates

    Hessa Al Marri · Collections supervisor

    Hessa owns the evening run and signs the release by 17:30. She traces Yusuf Rahman, Flat 1204, Tower B, Sahra Gardens, AED 1,286.40 overdue for 74 days. He passes the first four gates: final notice on 20 August, 21 days before, a reminder text delivered on 8 September at 09:02, no medical record, no plan, no dispute. Then gate 5 shuts on the heat alert, and gate 6 shuts too.

    “Heat alert · 46°C tomorrow · Sahra Gardens · held to Mon 14 Sep · CPC 7.4” and “Also: Call 3 days ago”

  6. 06The account

    The Sunday call that nobody put next to the list

    Leila Haddad · Customer care agent

    On Sunday 6 September at 18:12, Mr Rahman called. Leila took the 6 minute 40 second call and logged it as a payment enquiry, with a payment link sent at 18:19. The hardship listener marks what he said: job loss, an income date, a request to pay in parts and a child at home in the heat. No plan was set up on the call.

    “I was let go from the logistics company in July. My last salary comes on the fifteenth.”

  7. 07Exceptions

    Eleven accounts a person must decide

    Daniel Okafor · Compliance officer

    Daniel decides every account the gates could not decide alone, each with the evidence and a proposed decision, and a reason for the record. Noura Al Hammadi's home-oxygen certificate expires on Thursday; the clinic emailed on Tuesday that the renewal is signed. Karim Nasser's dispute closed at 17:20, after the gate saw it open at 16:47. Where a medical or weather protection applies, “Release to Monday” is locked.

    Proposed for Noura Al Hammadi: “Keep on hold until the renewal arrives; never disconnect on the expiry day”

  8. 0817:32 · Signed

    443 clean orders, signed

    Hessa Al Marri · Collections supervisor

    The release holds only accounts that passed all six gates: 368 remote switches to the smart-meter head-end in hourly batches between 08:00 and 14:00, 44 electricity field visits and 31 water flow restrictors for Ravi Menon's crews. The last checks are on the sheet: Thursday is a business day, no switching after 14:00, and the 05:30 forecast re-check can still pull homes off before 07:30. Hessa signs at 17:32.

    “I confirm that every account on this release passed all six gates, and that the 188 stopped and 11 held are off it.”

  9. 0917:41

    A call-back booked, and a plan he can keep

    Sara Qureshi · Hardship team lead

    Hessa refers Mr Rahman to Sara's hardship team. Sara calls on Thursday at 10:00 with a plan to offer: AED 643.20 on 15 September, his salary date, as he asked, then three payments of AED 214.40 in October, November and December. He comes back on a list only if the plan is not agreed, and not before Monday 21 September, with a new 48-hour reminder.

    “Referred to Sara Qureshi · call-back booked Thu 10 Sep, 10:00”

  10. 10For the regulator

    One decision record for every account

    Evidence writer

    Every account on every list has a record: each gate, the clause, the evidence and who decided. Yusuf Rahman's record DR-0910-0118 shows four passes and two stops, CPC 7.4 and CPC 7.6. The September return is built from the records: 4,453 accounts checked over 7 lists, 1,296 stopped at a gate, 110 decided by a person.

    “0 disconnection complaints upheld this month · 3 reconnections within 2 hours after payment”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who owns a disconnection.

The same evening's list, seen by the five people who carry it — what their evening looked like, and what it looks like now.

HA
Hessa Al MarriCollections supervisor, Lumina Utilities · owns the evening disconnection run and signs the release
Collections supervisor
Before
Runs 640-odd accounts a night, four nights a week, and signs the release by 17:30 for the next morning, with about one account in ten checked by hand.
Now
Sees the whole list go through six gates, with the reason and the clause for every stop, before she signs. “If one of these shouldn't go, I want to know which rule stops it before I sign, not after the complaint.”
DO
Daniel OkaforCompliance officer · decides every exception and answers the regulator's monthly return
Compliance officer
Before
Answers every complaint about a shutoff and the monthly disconnection return from a sample. “A sample is not an answer.”
Now
Decides the held accounts with the evidence and a proposed decision, and exports one decision record per account. “Show me the clause and the evidence for each account.”
RM
Ravi MenonField dispatch lead · plans the field visits and remote switch orders
Field dispatch lead
Before
Needs the list by 07:30 and loses visits when it changes. “Don't change my list after the crews leave the depot.”
Now
Gets a signed release split by crew and time window: 75 field visits, 368 remote switches, and no field visit to homes in the three held zones.
SQ
Sara QureshiHardship team lead · calls back customers who said they are struggling
Hardship team lead
Before
Hears about hardship after the cut-off. “The customer told us. We just never put the call next to the cut-off list.”
Now
Gets each signal with the customer's own words, the channel and the time, and a call-back on her team's list with a plan to offer.
LH
Leila HaddadCustomer care agent · took Mr Rahman's call on Sunday
Customer care agent
Before
Logged the call as a payment enquiry. “I sent him the payment link. I didn't know he was on Thursday's list.”
Now
What the customer said is read against the list before anyone is cut off, and the call is quoted on the account.
Built on the engine

6 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Six agents run every account through six protection gates; a compliance officer decides exceptions and the supervisor signs.

List builder

Takes billing's proposed list, drops accounts paid since it was cut, applies the arrears limit of AED 400 and 60 days, and splits cleared orders into remote switch, field visit and water restrictor.

  • Never adds an account to the list
  • Removes an account on any pending payment
Notice checker

Gate 1. Proves the final notice 15 days before and the 48-hour reminder delivered, from the print and text logs; catches returned letters, failed texts, late notices and notices sent to someone else. Master-metered buildings need tenant notices 10 days before.

  • Never counts a notice without a delivery record
Protection checker

Gates 2 to 4. Checks the medical register and certificates by premise, payment plans and assistance applications, and open disputes and complaints, including the regulator's. A certificate on its expiry day, or a dispute closed after the run, goes to a person.

  • Never decides a certificate is invalid; a person does
  • Cannot release a medical stop
Weather watcher

Gate 5. Pulls tomorrow's forecast for the eight service zones at 15:00 and 05:30 and holds every home in a zone with a heat alert or a forecast of 45°C or more, and in hill water zones under 4°C, through the next business day. Shops with a home on the same supply go to a person.

  • Never lifts a weather hold early
  • Nobody may override a weather stop
Hardship listener

Gate 6. Reads 14 days of calls, chats, emails and app messages from customers on the list, and quotes the sentence that says job loss, illness, bereavement, a late salary, a request to pay in parts or a request for help, with the time and the channel.

  • Never judges hardship; it stops and refers
  • Quotes, never paraphrases
  • Unclear words go to a person
  • Never infers hardship from payment history alone
Evidence writer

Writes one decision record per account with every gate, its clause, the evidence and who decided, and builds the regulator's monthly disconnection return from the records.

  • Never writes a decision a person did not make
Collections supervisor and compliance officer

Sign the release, decide exceptions. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any account, gate or release, in plain words

Ask about an account, a gate, the weather or the release. Every answer cites its source.

Why is Yusuf Rahman off Thursday's list?

Two gates stopped him. A heat alert is in force for Sahra Gardens on Thursday, with 46°C forecast, and CPC 7.4 holds every home in the zone through the next business day; nobody may override it. He also called on Sunday 6 Sep and said “I was let go from the logistics company in July”, and asked to pay half on the 15th. That stops him under CPC 7.6 until the hardship team calls. His notices were served on time.

Which gate stopped the most accounts tonight?

The weather gate: 86 of the 188 stopped. Sahra Gardens and Qamar Hills have heat alerts at 46°C and Falcon Ridge is forecast at the 45°C limit; 38, 31 and 17 homes are held, AED 182,350 in all. The 52 commercial accounts in those zones pass, because the rule protects homes.

Who on the list told us they are struggling?

25 customers, in the last 14 days. 17 are stopped at the hardship gate, 6 were already held by the weather gate and keep a hardship note, and 2 said something unclear, so a person decides. Each one is quoted word for word, with the time and the channel.

Is the release ready to sign?

Yes. 443 accounts passed all six gates and each has a decision record. The 11 held for a person are off this release whatever Daniel decides; anything he releases joins Monday's list. The 05:30 forecast re-check can still remove homes, and can never add one. Residential water is restricted, never shut.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

The gate runThursday's list of 642 accounts through six protection gates, each with its clause and the accounts it stopped, the forecast by zone on the weather gate, and 443 cleared.
Tonight's runAccounts stopped by the weather gate with their reasons, and the run log: six agents, each step with its time, 16:40 to 16:51.
The medical register gateNine homes protected, on life support or with a medical certificate, each with the register entry behind it. Nobody may override.
Weather by zoneTomorrow's forecast maximum for eight service zones, the heat alerts, the homes held in each zone and the forecast pulls.
Hardship signalsWhat customers on the list said in the last 14 days, quoted word for word, with the channel, the time and what the gate did.
An account tracedOne account through the six gates: four pass, then the weather and hardship gates shut, each with its reason.
The accountGate by gate, the call with the hardship sentences marked, what happens next and the zone's five-day forecast.
Referred to the hardship teamA call-back booked for Thursday at 10:00 and the plan to offer, on the salary date the customer asked for.
Held for a personEleven accounts the gates could not decide alone, each with the evidence, a proposed decision and a reason for the record.
The release sheet443 orders split into remote switches, field visits and water flow restrictors, by hour and by crew, with the timing checks.
Signed releaseThe collections supervisor's signature at 17:32; the orders go to the head-end and the depot at 07:30, after the forecast re-check.
Evidence for the regulatorOne decision record per account with every gate and clause, and the month's disconnection return built from the records.
Rules, tested on last monthThe gates as rules with their thresholds, and a replay of August's lists: 61 disconnections that would have been stopped.
Governance

Built to protect people: cited, decided, signed.

Every stop cites its clause and its evidenceEach stop names the clause of the customer protection code and the evidence behind it: the notice log line, the register entry, the plan, the dispute, the forecast issue time, or the customer's sentence with its time and channel.
Agents may stop, never releaseAn agent can take an account off the list; only a person can put one on a release. Accounts the gates cannot decide alone go to the compliance officer, and anything released joins the next list, never a signed release.
Medical and weather stops are lockedNobody may override the medical register gate or the extreme weather gate. A re-check of the forecast can add holds but never lifts one early, and residential water is restricted, never shut.
A named person decides and signsThe compliance officer decides every exception with a reason for the record. The collections supervisor signs the release, confirming that every account on it passed all six gates.
Rule changes need two approversChanges to the gates are saved as a draft and need the compliance officer and a second approver. Before they apply, they can be tested by replaying last month's lists through the gates.
Customer contacts read only for the listCalls, chats and emails are read only for customers on the list and only for the look-back window. The quote is kept in the decision record; the recordings stay in the contact-centre system. Every run, re-check, decision and signature is on the record.
Configuration

Your protection code, as rules you can test

Each gate is a rule with its clause, threshold and look-back, and says who may override it. Changes are drafts until compliance and a second approver accept them.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Final notice at least15 daysLetter and text · a person may release · CPC 5.2
Reminder delivered at least48 hoursText or call, with a delivery record · tenants in master-metered buildings: notice on the doors 10 days before
Medical certificate valid for6 months12 months if chronic · checked by premise, not only by account holder · never on the expiry day · nobody may override
Forecast maximum at or above45°COr any heat alert in the zone · cold limit in hill water zones 4°C · pulls at 15:00 and 05:30 · nobody may override
Hardship look back over14 daysCalls, chats, emails, app messages, service centres · 6 kinds, 41 phrases · unclear words go to a person
After a dispute closes5 daysDays to pay or agree a plan · a disputed amount stops the whole disconnection, not only the amount
Switching window08:00–14:00Never on Friday, the weekend, or the day before a public holiday
Release signed by · exceptions decided byHessa Al Marri · Daniel OkaforCollections supervisor · compliance officer; agents may only stop an account
Connections

Works with the systems a disconnection run already touches

Billing and the CISthe proposed disconnect list, payments since it was cut, plans and assistance applications
Print, mail and text logsfinal notices and 48-hour reminders, with their delivery records
Medical registerlife-support register entries and medical certificates, with their expiry
Weather service feedtomorrow's forecast maximum and heat alerts, by service zone
Contact centre and complaintscalls, chats, emails and app messages; disputes and complaints with the regulator
Head-end and the depotremote switch batches to the smart meters, and the field sheet by crew
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
0homes
cut off in a heat alert or with a medical certificate or life-support need
target
100%
of accounts on every list checked against all six protections, each with its clause cited, not a sample
642 of 642 accounts
Thursday's list, every gate on record
estimated
≈ AED 1Ma year
in urgent reconnections and redress avoided: 680 wrongful cut-offs × AED 1,420
Today≈ 680 wrongful a year
With the gatesstopped before the switch

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate: about AED 1M a year = Lumina's 85,000 disconnections a year × 0.8% later found wrongful = 680, × (AED 920 urgent reconnection visit, the low end of the $250–$500 truck-roll range, + AED 500 redress); the evening's hours assume a team of three checking about one account in ten · “typical” = published figures (NEADA, Q3 2024 Energy Hardship press release, 26 Aug 2024: 3.5 million projected shut-offs in 2024, 33 states without summer shut-off protection; truck roll $250–$500, S&C Electric). Regulatory context: Oregon OAR 860-021-0405, 0407 and 0410; Texas 16 TAC §25.29. Lumina Utilities, its Customer Protection Code (CPC) and clauses, and the people, accounts and records named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What collections and compliance teams ask us.

What is disconnection compliance review software for utilities?

Software that checks every account on a disconnection-for-non-payment list against the customer protections before a meter is switched off or a water supply is restricted. Disconnection Compliance Review runs each list through six gates — notices served, medical register, payment plan or assistance, open dispute or complaint, extreme weather and recent hardship contact — and cites the clause and the evidence for every stop.

How does disconnection compliance review work?

Each evening billing's proposed list goes to six agents. They drop accounts that paid, prove the notices were delivered, check the medical register, plans, applications and disputes, read tomorrow's forecast by zone and read what customers said in the last 14 days. Accounts that pass every gate go on the release; a compliance officer decides the exceptions and the collections supervisor signs.

How does it apply heat and cold moratoriums?

The weather watcher pulls tomorrow's forecast for every service zone at 15:00 and again at 05:30. Every home in a zone with a heat alert or a forecast of 45°C or more is held through the next business day, and hill water zones are held under 4°C. The thresholds are settings; nobody may override a weather stop, and a re-check never lifts one early.

Does it check medical certificates and the life-support register?

Yes, by premise, not only by account holder, so a register entry on a second account at the same premise is found too. A certificate on its expiry day goes to a person, never to the release, and nobody may override a medical stop.

How does it find customers in hardship who already told us?

The hardship listener reads calls, chats, emails and app messages from customers on the list for the look-back window, and quotes the sentence that says job loss, illness, bereavement, a late salary, a request to pay in parts or a request for help. It stops the disconnection and refers the customer to the hardship team; unclear words go to a person.

Do people stay in control of disconnections?

Yes. Agents can stop a disconnection but never release one. The compliance officer decides every exception with a reason, the collections supervisor signs the release, and rule changes need the compliance officer and a second approver.

What evidence does it give the regulator?

One decision record per account on every list: each gate, the clause, the evidence and who decided. The monthly disconnection return is built from those records, and a list's evidence pack can be exported.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your customer protection rules, notice templates and a sample of past disconnection lists — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will replay your own past lists through the gates first.

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