WorkflowNew Connections, Solar & EV Programmes

New Service Connection Processing

New service connection processing that books the crew the moment a connection is ready

From application to energised, every step tracked.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
target0connections left waiting after the inspection passes and the fees are paid — the energise gate books the next crew window
estimated$186Ka year in builder and customer status calls avoided: 12,600 connections × 3.1 calls × $9.54, half avoided
demo38%of stalled days on the sample district were “ready, but nobody noticed” — inspection passed, fees paid, no crew date
target2daysfrom ready to energised, against a median of 9.2 days over the last 12 weeks
The problem

Why a new service connection waits after it is ready

A new home, shop, school or subdivision needs a service before anyone moves in. The request arrives by portal, email or paper with a form, a load schedule, a site plan and vicinity map, an easement and a permit. Then it crosses the customer system, the network map, work management and the city's inspection portal. The connections coordinator re-keys the details, emails the missing-item list, and chases every hand-off by hand.

The commonest stall is not an engineering problem. The city releases the inspection into one inbox, the builder pays the balance into the customer system, and nobody is watching the moment both are true — so no crew is booked. The meter is not billing, the builder cannot hand over the keys, and the calls start: “The inspector passed us, why is nobody coming?”

typical$9.54a call, the average cost of a customer call across 15 utilities (E Source)
demo3.1callsa connection from builders and customers asking for status, before milestone messages
typical3–4weeksquoted on utility builder pages for a will-serve step alone; others quote 5–10 business days
Where a connection's days go, in daysestimated
By hand51 days
With the solution34.5 days
  • Complete — reading the request, the missing-item letter2 → 0.5 d
  • Design — load schedule checked, service and transformer sized, signed9 → 5 d
  • Fees — quote, service agreement, deposit and balance10 → 8 d
  • Site ready — easement, permit, meter base and pad15 → 14 d
  • Inspection — waiting for the city's release6 → 5 d
  • Energise — from ready to a crew on site9 → 2 d

Before: the sample district's median days at each milestone over the last 90 days, from the working solution (the meter test, a median 2 days, is left out). After: our estimate with the solution; the energise row is the design target. Most of the site-ready and fees time is the builder's work and changes little.

How it works

How a connection moves

Six agents check, size, quote, watch and book every connection; the coordinator decides and the planner signs.

What comes in
Requests inportal, email, paper · load schedule, site plan, permit
Agents at work
Application checkermissing items, cited
Then
Load and service sizer
Fee calculator
Then
Milestone watcherevery 15 minutes
Then
Energise scheduler
Status updater
A person decides
Connections coordinatorholds, exceptions, letters
What comes out
Missing-item list
Signed design
Energisation booked
One case, step by step

One dental clinic, from a stalled inspection to a booked energisation

Lumina Utilities' Eastvale district has 214 connections in flight. Brightwater Dental Clinic, 212 Cinder Mill Road, needs a 400 A, 120/208 V three-phase service before it opens on 2 Nov. It is Thursday 15 Oct 2026, 09:40. Here is the day, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 0109:40

    The morning opens on the rail, not a spreadsheet

    Priya Nandakumar · Connections coordinator

    Every connection is one row with eight stations — Applied, Complete, Design, Fees, Site ready, Inspection, Meter, Energise — moved from the source records. 214 are active (176 electricity, 38 water) and 17 are stalled. A stalled station glows amber past its threshold and red past twice it, so the eye reads the stalls down a column. Above the rail, the energise gate counts 6 connections ready with no date, the oldest 11 days.

    Energise gate: “Inspection passed + Fees paid + no hold · meter tested → Energisation booked in the next crew slot”

  2. 02One press

    Six ready connections, booked in one go

    Energise scheduler

    18 Larkspur Way passed inspection on 4 Oct and paid its fees on 4 Sep, and still had no energise date. Harrow Fields Phase 2 had all 9 lots passed on 9 Oct. Priya presses Book all 6. The scheduler finds the first free window for the crew covering each address, applies the meter shop's notice, and the count drops to 0.

    “6 energisations booked: 3 on Fri 16 Oct, 1 on Mon 19 Oct, 2 on Tue 20 Oct · builders texted”

  3. 03The file

    Brightwater Dental Clinic: 9 days at Inspection

    Priya Nandakumar · Connections coordinator

    The connection file shows the request as the application checker read it: Kestrel Ridge Builders, Ostrander Electric, licence EC-55120, asked to be in service by Mon 19 Oct. The load is recomputed at 96.4 kVA demand, 268 A at 208 V, 67 % of 400 A, on a new 150 kVA pad-mount, PM-2231. The fee calculator's quote is $11,480 from the 2026 schedule of charges; the $6,620 deposit is paid and $4,860 is due before energisation.

    “Inspection for 9 days, threshold 5 · Final inspection requested 6 Oct · city inspector booked today · $4,860 balance due”

  4. 0409:58 and 10:42

    The city passes the inspection; the builder pays

    Milestone watcher

    The watcher reads the city inspection portals every 15 minutes. At 09:58 the Eastvale portal shows permit E-26-11873 final electrical passed, inspector J. Okonkwo. At 10:42 Kestrel Ridge pays the $4,860 balance by card on the portal, receipt PY-55102. Both stations turn green, each with its record.

    The watcher never moves a station without a source record.

  5. 0510:43

    Energisation books itself for Tuesday

    Energise scheduler

    The gate checks: inspection passed, fees paid, no holds, CT meter M-7739102 tested. A CT meter needs 3 working days' notice for the meter shop, so the earliest date is Tue 20 Oct. The first free window is 08:00–10:00 on Line Crew 14. The scheduler raises work order WO-26-88417 and leaves every outage-response window free.

    One window a day per crew is kept for outage response and is never booked by the gate.

  6. 0610:43

    The builder gets the date without calling

    Status updater · to Dana Pruitt

    Dana Pruitt, Kestrel Ridge's project manager, had asked the night before: “The clinic opens 2 Nov. If the inspector passes us Thursday, when can you energise?” She has heard from the status updater at every milestone since the request was complete on 27 Aug. Now she and Nate Ostrander get the date by text.

    “Energisation is booked for Tue 20 Oct, 08:00–10:00 (Line Crew 14). Please have the main breaker off and someone on site.”

  7. 07New requests

    Nine new requests, read before they reach Priya

    Application checker

    Nine arrived since yesterday 17:00 — portal 6, email 2, paper 1, 33 files. The checker matches every address to the network map and to an account, and checks each load schedule against the floor plan. Delmont Laundry's schedule is missing the six 9 kW dryers on its floor plan; Bramble Farm has no easement over the neighbouring field for the overhead span; 5 Cobble Yard is the same premises as NC-26-03990, proposed to merge.

    “Wrote 3 missing-item letters for your review · nothing is sent until you press Send”

  8. 08Design queue

    A load schedule that would overload the transformer

    Marcus Ellery · Service planner

    Saltmarsh Brewing taproom asked for 400 A. The load and service sizer recomputes the schedule to the Lumina service standard, demand factors after NEC Article 220: 160.5 kVA, 446 A at 208 V, 111 % of 400 A. The applicant took the two 36 kW brew kettles at 65 %; they fire together in a brew, so the standard takes 100 %. Existing T-5120 would run at 155 %, so the sizer proposes 600 A, CT metering and a new 225 kVA pad-mount.

    “The agent proposes; only a planner signs. A signed design moves the connection to Fees.”

  9. 09The pattern

    Where Eastvale's connections really wait

    Priya Nandakumar · Connections coordinator

    Over 90 days, 1,512 connections were energised in Eastvale. Site ready is the longest milestone at a median of 15 days, but it is the builder's work. The longest wait nobody was working on is the last one: a median 9 days from ready to energised. 38 % of stalled days were inspection passed and fees paid, with no crew date.

    “The longest wait that nobody is working on is the last one: a connection that is ready but has no crew date.”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who gets a connection energised.

The same connections, seen by the four people who move them — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.

PN
Priya NandakumarConnections coordinator, Eastvale district · decides holds, exceptions and letters
Connections coordinator
Before
Owns 214 active connections, electricity and water, and takes 30–40 status calls a day. “Half my calls are ‘the inspector passed us, why is nobody coming?’”
Now
Opens one rail where a stalled step glows, books every ready connection in one press, and sends missing-item letters the checker has already written.
ME
Marcus ElleryService planner, distribution design · signs every design
Service planner
Before
Re-checks load calculations by hand and looks up transformer loading on the network map. “Give me the load calc already checked, and the transformer loading next to it.”
Now
Gets each load line recomputed to the Lumina standard, every difference from the applicant's calculation explained, and the transformer loading with the new load beside it.
RS
Rosa SalazarLine crew scheduler, meter operations · owns the crew calendar
Line crew scheduler
Before
Books meter sets and energisations into crew windows from emails and calls. “Tell me it's ready once, and tell me it's really ready.”
Now
Sees gate bookings marked on the calendar, made only when every condition is true, with outage-response windows left free. She can move any booking.
DP
Dana PruittProject manager, Kestrel Ridge Builders · runs six sites
Builder
Before
Calls for status because nobody tells her what moved. “I don't need a portal. I need a date.”
Now
Hears at every milestone — request complete, design signed and quote, site ready, inspection passed, energisation booked — and gets the date by text the moment it is booked.
Built on the engine

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

Six agents check, size, quote, watch and book every connection; the coordinator decides and the planner signs.

Application checker

Reads each new-service request — form, load schedule, site plan, vicinity map, easement, permit — checks the address on the network map and the account, looks for the same premises already in flight, and writes the missing-item list in plain words, citing the page.

  • Never rejects a request
  • Never asks for an item the service standard does not require
  • Letters are sent only by a coordinator
Load and service sizer

Recomputes the demand load from the load schedule with the Lumina service standard's demand factors (after NEC Article 220), and proposes service size, CT or self-contained metering and the transformer, with its loading once the new load is added.

  • Never signs a design
  • Designs over 300 kVA flagged for the senior planner
  • Explains every difference from the applicant's own calculation
Fee calculator

Quotes the connection charge from the 2026 schedule of charges — design fee, line extension less the allowance, pad and riser, meter — and tracks the deposit and balance.

  • Never waives or discounts a charge
  • Fee changes need the connections manager
Milestone watcher

Reads the customer system, network map, work management, payments and the city inspection portals every 15 minutes, moves each station on the rail and flags every step past its stall threshold.

  • Never moves a station without a source record
  • Cites the record on every station
Energise scheduler

The energise gate: when the inspection has passed, the fees are paid, the meter is tested and there is no hold, it applies the meter shop's notice, books the first free two-hour window for the crew covering the address and raises the work order.

  • Never books over outage response
  • Never books with an open hold
  • Any booking can be moved by a coordinator
Status updater

Tells builders and customers what moved at each milestone, from approved wording, and answers “where is my connection?” with the rail's facts.

  • Never promises a date the scheduler has not booked
  • Only approved wording
  • Quiet hours 20:00–07:30
Service planner

Signs every design. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any connection, in plain words

Ask about any connection, builder or crew window — or say what to change. Every answer points to its record.

Which connections are ready but have no energise date?

6 connections have passed inspection and paid in full with no crew date. The oldest is 18 Larkspur Way, ready 11 days; then Harrow Fields Phase 2, all 9 lots ready 6 days, and the school annex, 4 days. The gate can book all 6 now: 3 on Fri 16 Oct, 1 on Mon 19 and 2 on Tue 20.

Why is Brightwater Dental Clinic stalled?

Two things: the final electrical inspection was requested on 6 Oct and has waited 9 days, past the 5-day threshold; and $4,860 of the $11,480 charge is still due. The meter is tested and there are no holds, so the moment both clear the gate will book the next CT window, Tue 20 Oct.

Is the Saltmarsh Brewing service sized right?

No. Recomputed to the Lumina standard, the demand is 160.5 kVA, 446 A at 208 V, 111 % of the 400 A asked for. The two 36 kW brew kettles fire together, so the standard takes them at 100 %, not 65 %. Existing T-5120 would run at 155 %, so the proposal is 600 A with a new 225 kVA pad-mount. Marcus Ellery signs.

Set the inspection stall threshold to 4 days

Done. Inspection now counts as stalled after 4 days (red after 8). Today that adds no new connection: Brightwater Dental Clinic was already flagged at 9 days. The change is on the record under your name.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

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

Connections in flightEvery connection on one milestone rail, a stalled step glowing, the energise gate counting the ready connections with no date, and the selected connection's gate and run.
Six booked in one pressThe ready connections booked into the next crew windows, the builders texted, and the count back to 0.
The connection fileThe rail, the request as read, the documents with their checks, the fee quote and every event in order, each from a source record.
The energise gate firesInspection passed, balance paid, both true, window found, energisation booked, builder told — under the row, with times.
Energise calendarTwo-hour windows per crew, gate bookings marked, and one window a day per crew kept for outage response.
Customer updatesA builder's thread with a message at every milestone, status questions answered from the rail, and the milestones that send a message.
New requests, checkedNine new requests read in full: complete, items missing, or a duplicate — with the missing-item letters written for review.
Service designThe load schedule recomputed line by line, the service and transformer recommended with its loading, and the planner's decision.
Where connections waitMedian and 90th-percentile days at each milestone, ready-to-energised by week against the target, and the longest waits now.
RulesThe energise gate's mode and conditions, meter shop notice, stall thresholds, who decides and the systems read every 15 minutes.
Governance

Every step tracked, every decision named.

Every station cites its recordEach station on the rail links to the record that moved it — the inspection release, the payment receipt, the design signature, the work order. No record, no move.
The gate books only when all is trueInspection passed, fees paid in full, meter assigned and tested, no safety, easement or credit hold. A coordinator can switch the gate to “Propose, I confirm” or Off, and can move any booking.
A named planner signs every designThe load and service sizer proposes; Marcus Ellery signs, and designs over 300 kVA need the senior planner too. A signed design is what moves a connection to Fees.
No charge waived by an agentThe fee calculator quotes from the schedule of charges and never waives or discounts. Fee changes need the connections manager.
Outage response comes firstOne window a day per crew is kept for outage response and is never booked by the gate, and nothing is booked after 15:00 on Fridays.
Approved wording, every change on the recordBuilders hear only approved wording, never before 07:30 or after 20:00, and never a date that is not booked. Every agent step, booking and rule change is on the record with who and when.
Configuration

Your connection rules, not ours

What the agents may do on their own, when a step counts as stalled, and who decides — set by the connections team.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Energise gateBook automaticallyBook automatically · Propose, I confirm · Off
Book when all are true4 conditionsInspection passed (city release, or backflow test for water) · fees paid in full · meter assigned and tested · no safety, easement or credit hold
Notice the meter shop needsCT meter: 3 working daysSelf-contained meter: 1 working day · CT meter: 3 working days
Never bookOutage-response windowsOutage-response windows · after 15:00 on Fridays
When a step counts as stalledInspection: 5 daysDays per milestone — Complete 3 · Design 10 · Fees 14 · Site ready 21 · Inspection 5 · Meter 3 · Energise 2; red at twice the number
DesignsMarcus ElleryService planner; over 300 kVA, the senior planner too
Holds and exceptionsPriya NandakumarConnections coordinator · fee changes: Owen Treadwell, connections manager · crew calendar: Rosa Salazar
Message wordingCustomer communications teamApproved wording per milestone · quiet hours 20:00–07:30
Connections

Works with the systems a connection already crosses

Service requestsrequest form, load schedule, site plan and vicinity map, easement, permit — by portal, email or paper
Customer systemaccounts, fees, service agreements and payments
Network mapfeeders, transformers and their loading
Work managementwork orders, crews and the meter shop
City inspection portalsinspection releases from Eastvale, Marlow Heath and Port Avery
Builder portal, text and emaildocuments and replies in, milestone messages out
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
0
connections left waiting after the inspection passes and the fees are paid
Ready, no date
6 this morning, 0 after the gate
estimated
$186K
a year in status calls avoided: 12,600 connections × 3.1 calls × $9.54, half avoided
Calls today$373K a year
With milestone messages$186K
target
2days
from ready to energised, against a median of 9.2
Median today9.2 days
With the gate2 days

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample district data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our arithmetic, inputs shown ($186K = 12,600 connections a year × 3.1 status calls × $9.54 a call = $373K, half avoided by milestone messages; the days split is our estimate on the sample's milestone medians) · “typical” = published figures (E Source: $9.54 a call across 15 utilities; utility builder pages quoting 5–10 business days to 3–4 weeks for a will-serve step). The service standard's demand factors follow NEC Article 220 as context only. Lumina Utilities and the people, builders, premises and records named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What connections teams ask us.

What is new service connection processing?

It is the work of taking a request for a new electric or water service — a home, a commercial building, a subdivision, an EV charging site — from application to energised: completeness, design, fees, site ready, inspection, meter and energise. New Service Connection Processing runs every connection on one milestone rail, with six agents doing the checking, sizing, quoting, watching, booking and messaging, and people deciding.

How does new service connection software for utilities work?

The milestone watcher reads the customer system, network map, work management, payments and the city inspection portals every 15 minutes and moves each station from its source record. A step past its stall threshold glows. When the inspection has passed, the fees are paid, the meter is tested and nothing is on hold, the energise scheduler books the next crew window and the status updater tells the builder.

Does it check the load calculation and size the service?

Yes. The load and service sizer recomputes the load schedule with the utility's own demand factors — in the working solution, the Lumina service standard after NEC Article 220 — explains every difference from the applicant's calculation, and shows the transformer loading with the new load. In the sample case a 400 A request came out at 446 A, so it proposed 600 A and a new 225 kVA pad-mount. The planner signs.

How does it reduce status calls from builders and customers?

The status updater sends approved messages at each milestone — request complete, design signed and quote, site ready, inspection passed and balance due, energisation booked, energised and first bill date — and answers status questions with the rail's facts. In the sample week, 141 of 186 status questions were answered that way and 45 went to a coordinator.

Does it work for water service connections too?

Yes. Water services run on the same rail. For water, the inspection station is the backflow test, and a water crew's turn-on windows sit on the same calendar as the line crews'.

Do people stay in control of designs, fees and bookings?

Yes. Agents never reject a request, sign a design, waive a charge, book over outage response or promise an unbooked date. The planner signs every design, the connections manager approves fee changes, the coordinator decides holds and exceptions and can move any booking or switch the gate to “Propose, I confirm”.

Can we set our own stall thresholds and rules?

Yes. The gate mode and conditions, the meter shop notice, the windows never booked, the stall threshold for each milestone, the approvers and the message wording are all settings, and every change is on the record.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your service standard, schedule of charges, builder guide and a sample of connections in flight — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own connections first.

See it on
your connections.

We'll run New Service Connection Processing on a sample of your own connections in flight.