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Tariff Knowledge Search

Tariff knowledge search for utilities: ask how a charge was calculated and get the worked bill, every rate cited to the clause in force on the bill date

How was this charge calculated? Answered and cited.

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See one case, screen by screen ↓
target85%of bill and tariff questions resolved on the first contact, from 71% today
estimatedAED 1.5Ma yearin repeat contacts avoided: 43,100 fewer repeat calls × AED 35 a call
target100%of rates quoted from the version in force on the bill date, each cited to its clause
demo0of 3,412tariff questions in seven days answered with a rate from a superseded version
The problem

Why three agents give three answers about the same bill

A customer asks why the bill is what it is, or what next month will cost. To answer, the agent has to find the right schedule, the rider in force for that season, the fuel surcharge notice for that quarter and the internal rounding and VAT procedure — in a tariff book of 109 documents and 412 pages, every one of them effective-dated — and then work the slabs out on a calculator while the customer waits. Agents answer from memory, or from a cheat sheet that is a version behind.

So the answers drift. When the summer-slab rider came in on 1 May 2026, Lumina's quality team heard six different explanations of it in one week of calls. A bill question the agent cannot explain becomes a call-back or an escalation to the rates team; a wrong explanation becomes a complaint to the Commission; and a rate quoted or charged before its effective date can end in a refund order.

typical59%of customers satisfied after a call-back, against 90%+ of those resolved on the first call
typical$9.54a callaverage cost of a utility contact-centre call, about AED 35
typical50,000+ratesapproved electricity rates in the US, about ten times as many as five years earlier
Where a hard bill question's minutes go, on one callestimated
By hand21 days
With the solution4 days
  • Finding the account, the rate and the bill month2 → 0.5 d
  • Finding the schedule, rider and fuel notice in force on the read date7 → 0.5 d
  • Working the slabs, surcharge, meter charge and VAT on a calculator5 → 0.5 d
  • Checking the working against the bill3 → 0.5 d
  • Explaining it to the customer and writing the call notes4 → 2 d

Estimated split for one bill question that needs the tariff — a seasonal slab, a rider or a fuel surcharge — in minutes, by hand and with the solution. Our estimate, for illustration.

How it works

How a question becomes a worked bill

Five specialist agents find the clauses in force and work the bill; the agent decides what to tell the customer, the rates analyst how the tariff is read.

What comes in
Sources in109 documents · schedules, riders, orders, fuel notices, procedures
Agents at work
Question readeruse, rate, bill month
Then
Tariff librarianclauses in force
Then
Bill calculatorline by line
Citation checker
Then
Change watchernew orders and notices
A person decides
Contact-centre agentdecides what to tell the customer
What comes out
Worked bill, cited
Working sent to the customer
Tariff change log
One case, step by step

One bill question, from the call to the working in the customer's inbox

Tuesday 13 October 2026, 10:14, at Lumina Utilities. Karim Osei, on residential rate RES-24 in a Seafield villa, calls about his August bill of AED 1,605.45: he used the same as last August, so why is it more — and what would a new pool cost? Here is the call, and what happened around it that morning, screen by screen.

  1. 0110:14 · on the call

    She asks the way the customer asked

    Farah Nasser · Contact-centre agent

    The call bar already shows Karim Osei, account 2004 1183 376, electricity RES-24 and water W-2, and his August bill. Farah types “What does 4,200 kWh cost in summer?”. The answer comes back as a worked bill: AED 1,397.55 with VAT for the August 2026 bill, with the use, season, bill month, service and rider in the header and a slab bar showing where his 4,200 kWh fall.

    “Change any input above, or drag the bar: the lines, the total and the clauses update in place.”

  2. 026.4 seconds

    The agents work the bill, and every step shows

    Question reader, Tariff librarian, Bill calculator, Citation checker

    The question reader takes 4,200 kWh, summer, RES-24 and the August 2026 bill from the question and the call. The tariff librarian searches 109 documents and confirms Rider R-7 was in force for the August read. The bill calculator works the slabs, adds the fuel surcharge, the meter charge and VAT, and reconciles with the bill: AED 1,397.55 billed, AED 1,397.55 worked. The citation checker checks 6 of 6 lines against their clause text and writes the line to say to the customer, without procedure numbers.

    Citation checker: “6 of 6 match the clause text”

  3. 03Every line

    Each rate opens on its clause

    Tariff librarian

    Slab 1 is 2,000 kWh × 21 fils, cited to both Sheet E-3 §E-3.4 table 1 and Rider R-7 §2 table A, because the rider leaves it unchanged. Slab 2 is 2,000 kWh × 28 fils and slab 3 is 200 kWh × 34 fils, both from Rider R-7 §2 table A. The fuel surcharge is 6.5 fils from Notice FS-2026-Q3, the meter charge AED 10.00 from Sheet E-3 §E-3.2 and VAT 5% from procedure BP-021 §4. One click opens the rider page, approved by Order 25-11-207 of the Calder Utilities Commission, with the clause highlighted and the rates analyst's note in the margin.

    Rahul Menon's note: “Slab 1 is not changed by the rider. Quote 21 fils for the first 2,000 kWh in every season.”

  4. 04“Why more than last August?”

    AED 70.35 more at the same use, and why

    Farah Nasser · Contact-centre agent

    Farah clicks Compare with last August. Each line shows August 2025 beside August 2026: AED 1,327.20 then, AED 1,397.55 now. The summer slabs of Rider R-7 came into force on 1 May 2026 and add AED 46.00 on slabs 2 and 3; the July–September fuel surcharge rose from 6.0 to 6.5 fils, adding AED 21.00; VAT on both is AED 3.35.

    “Why AED 70.35 more at the same use. The summer slabs of Rider R-7 came into force on 1 May 2026.”

  5. 05The pool

    She types 5,000 inside the answer

    Farah Nasser · Contact-centre agent

    Karim is putting in a pool. Farah changes 4,200 to 5,000 in the answer itself. Slab 3 becomes 1,000 kWh × 34 fils, the fuel surcharge AED 325.00, and the total AED 1,737.75. The citations stay on their lines, and a one-line delta says what changed.

    “+800 kWh → +AED 340.20, all in slab 3 at 34 fils, with the fuel surcharge and VAT”

  6. 06And in winter

    Switch the season and the citations move

    Farah Nasser · Contact-centre agent

    To show him a winter month, she switches the season. The answer becomes a January 2026 bill: AED 1,305.15 for the same 4,200 kWh, slabs at 21, 26 and 31 fils. Every slab now cites Sheet E-3 §E-3.4 table 1 instead of the rider, and the fuel line moves to that quarter's notice, FS-2026-Q1 at 5.5 fils.

    “January 2026 · −AED 92.40 · winter rates from Schedule E-3 table 1 · fuel surcharge from Notice FS-2026-Q1”

  7. 07Before she says it

    Checked against his August bill, to the fils

    Bill calculator

    Check against his August bill puts bill 26-08-4471902 line by line beside the working: six electricity lines and five water lines for 45 m³, each with its clause and a match. The bill total, AED 1,605.45, matches. The meter reads and twelve months of use sit beside it. Farah emails Karim the working, and the call closes in 6 min 40 s, first time.

    “Matches to the fils”

  8. 0809:48, earlier that morning

    When two sources disagree, the answer is held

    Citation checker

    Daniel Kwame had asked: “Customer moved in on 18 August — how are the slabs pro-rated?” The tariff, Sheet E-3 §E-3.6, pro-rates each slab threshold by days; billing procedure BP-114 §3.2 pro-rates only the meter charge. For an 11-day bill of 1,150 kWh that is AED 270.69 against AED 241.50 for the energy. The agents did not choose. They held the answer and sent both workings to the rates analyst.

    “Two sources disagree, so this answer is not shown as a rule.”

  9. 09The ruling

    The rates analyst rules: the tariff governs

    Rahul Menon · Billing and rates analyst

    In rates review Rahul sees both clauses side by side and both workings. The billing system already follows the tariff — three move-in bills this month checked — but 23 move-in answers in 90 days used the procedure's wording, so customers heard an explanation that did not match their bill. He rules “Tariff governs — update BP-114”. BP-114 rev 4 goes to Elena Brandt to sign, and the 23 past answers are queued to re-check.

    “Nothing here reaches a customer until it is ruled.”

  10. 10Published 30 Sep

    A new order, read and redlined before any answer uses it

    Change watcher

    Order 26-09-311 raises water slab 3 from AED 7.80 to AED 8.40 per m³ above 40 m³ a month, for reads from 1 January 2027. The change watcher drafted the redline and found what it touches: 41,200 households used more than 40 m³ in at least one month last year, and leak-allowance procedure BP-047 quotes AED 7.80 in its worked example. Answers for bills read before 1 January 2027 keep AED 7.80. The reading waits for Rahul's approval.

    Change watcher: never publishes a reading — the rates analyst approves it.

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who explains a bill.

The same tariff, seen by the three people who answer for it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.

FN
Farah NasserContact-centre agent, 14 months in · about 55 calls a day, one in three about a bill
Contact-centre agent
Before
Reads the customer the total, then needs a tariff book, a rider, a fuel notice and a calculator to say why. “I can read him the total. I can't tell him why without twenty minutes and a calculator.”
Now
Asks in the customer's words and gets the worked bill, cited line by line; changes the use or the season inside the answer while he is still on the line, and emails him the working.
RM
Rahul MenonBilling and rates analyst · owns how the tariff book is read
Billing and rates analyst
Before
Answers the agents' escalations one by one and hears the same rule explained several ways. “Three agents, three explanations of the summer slabs. Only one was right.”
Now
Rules once on a conflict, with both clauses and both workings side by side, and approves the reading of each new notice before any answer uses it. Every answer after that uses the same clauses.
EB
Elena BrandtRegulatory affairs manager · files tariff changes with the Calder Utilities Commission, signs billing procedures
Regulatory affairs manager
Before
Finds out a procedure disagrees with the tariff when a complaint arrives. “If we quote a rate before its effective date, we refund it.”
Now
Gets a drafted procedure change with the clause it must match and the past answers it affects, and signs it. Every answer and the clauses it used are in the answer log.
Built on the engine

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

Five specialist agents find the clauses in force and work the bill; the agent decides what to tell the customer, the rates analyst how the tariff is read.

Question reader

Reads the plain-words question and the live call: the service, the customer's rate, the consumption and the bill month from the read date, and any riders.

  • Never guesses a bill month or a rate — asks the agent when the call does not say
  • Reads the account, never changes it
Tariff librarian

Searches the tariff book by clause — schedules, riders, Commission orders, fuel surcharge notices and billing procedures — and returns the version in force on the bill's read date, with its effective dates and the order that set it.

  • Never cites a superseded or draft version as current
  • Superseded versions are marked when cited
Bill calculator

Works the bill line by line from the clauses — slabs, discounts, fuel surcharge, meter charge and VAT — rounds each line to 2 decimals per BP-021, and reconciles with the bill when one exists. A deterministic calculator, not a language model.

  • Never invents or rounds a rate
  • Never changes a bill
  • Marks a what-if as an estimate
Citation checker

Checks every rate and every sentence against the cited clause and version, holds the answer and sends both sources to the rates analyst when they disagree, and writes one plain line for the customer.

  • No uncited number reaches the screen
  • A held answer is never shown as a rule
Change watcher

Reads each new Commission order and fuel surcharge notice within the hour of publication, drafts the redline against the current version and the reading, and lists the procedures and answers it affects.

  • Never publishes a reading: the rates analyst approves it
  • Never edits a procedure
Billing and rates analyst

Rules on conflicts, approves readings. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any tariff, rider or notice, in plain words

Ask about any tariff, rider or notice, or the bill on the call. Every rate comes with its clause.

Why is Karim Osei's August bill higher than last August?

At the same 4,200 kWh it is AED 70.35 more. Two changes: the summer slabs of Rider R-7 came into force on 1 May 2026, adding AED 46.00 on slabs 2 and 3, and the July–September fuel surcharge is 6.5 fils, up from 6.0, adding AED 21.00. VAT on both is AED 3.35.

What would 5,000 kWh cost him in a summer month?

AED 1,737.75 with VAT, AED 340.20 more than his August bill. The extra 800 kWh all fall in slab 3 at 34 fils, plus the 6.5 fils fuel surcharge and VAT.

Does the senior citizen rider cut the fuel surcharge?

No. Rider R-4 takes 25% off the energy charge for slabs 1 and 2 only; the fuel surcharge, the meter charge and VAT are not discounted. On 4,200 kWh in August that is AED 245.00 off, AED 1,140.30 in all.

What changed in the tariff book this month?

Fuel surcharge notice FS-2026-Q4 sets 5.5 fils for reads from 1 October, and its reading is approved. Order 26-09-311 raises water slab 3 to AED 8.40 from 1 January 2027; its reading is waiting for Rahul Menon. And procedure BP-114 disagrees with Sheet E-3 on part months.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

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

Ask, and get the worked billThe live call, the question in plain words and the answer as a worked bill: the total, the inputs, the slab bar and the clause rail.
How the answer was workedEvery line with its rate and clause, the line to say to the customer, and the five agents' steps in 6.4 seconds.
Compare with last AugustEach line against August 2025 at the same use, and why the bill is AED 70.35 more, cited.
A live calculator5,000 kWh typed inside the answer: the slabs, the fuel surcharge and the total update, with a one-line delta.
Switch the seasonA January bill for the same use: winter rates from Schedule E-3 table 1 and that quarter's fuel notice.
Check against the billThe August bill line by line beside the working, matched to the fils, with the meter reads and twelve months of use.
The clause behind the rateThe rider page with the cited clause highlighted, how often it is cited, the order that changed it and the analyst's note.
The tariff book109 documents by kind on an effective-date timeline: pick a date to see what was in force.
Tariff changesEach new order and notice with its redline, what it affects and whether its reading is approved.
A held answerWhen the tariff and a procedure disagree, both workings are shown and the answer goes to the rates analyst.
Rates reviewThe analyst's queue: conflicts, readings to approve and questions not covered, with both clauses side by side.
The answer logEvery question, its answer, the clauses it used and the outcome, and the same question getting the same answer.
Your rulesAnswer rules, the version used, rounding, the summer season, who sees internal procedures and who approves.
Governance

Built for regulated billing: cited, dated, ruled by people.

Every rate carries its clause and versionEach line of a worked bill cites the clause it came from and the version used. A number with no clause behind it is removed before the answer is shown.
The version in force on the read dateAnswers quote the clause in force on the bill's read date, not today's. Superseded versions stay searchable and are marked whenever they are cited.
Held when sources disagreeWhen the tariff and a procedure say different things, the answer is held and sent to the rates analyst with both clauses and both workings. The agent on the call sees “being checked”, never a guess.
People approve every readingNo new order or notice is used before the rates analyst approves its reading. Billing procedures that disagree with the tariff are changed only when the regulatory affairs manager signs.
Read only on bills, rates and proceduresThe agents read the account and the bill lines but never change a bill, a rate or a procedure. Internal procedures are cited in full only to billing, rates and regulatory staff; agents on calls see the customer-safe line.
Every answer in the answer logEvery question, who asked it, its worked bill, the clauses and versions it used and what the agent did with it are written to the answer log, with each agent step and each ruling on the activity trail.
Configuration

Your tariff, your rounding, your approvers

How answers are worked, cited and checked are settings, chosen by the billing and rates team.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Every rate carries its clauseOnOn · Off — a number with no clause behind it is removed before the answer is shown
Hold the answer when sources disagreeOnOn · Off — sent to the rates analyst with both clauses; the agent sees “being checked”
Version usedIn force on the bill's read dateIn force on the bill's read date · In force today
Rounding (BP-021 §3)Each line to 2 decimals, then sumEach line to 2 decimals, then sum · Sum, then round
Summer seasonMay to SeptemberRider R-7 §1: reads dated 1 May – 30 September
Internal billing proceduresBilling, rates and regulatoryBilling, rates and regulatory · Everyone — cited in full to the staff chosen; agents on calls see the customer-safe line
Approves the reading of a new noticeRahul Menon · rates analystRahul Menon, rates analyst · Any rates analyst — no answer uses a new order or notice before this
Signs procedure changesElena Brandt · regulatory affairsElena Brandt, regulatory affairs — for billing procedures that disagree with the tariff
Connections

Works with the tariff and billing records you already keep

Tariff sheets and rate schedulesschedules and riders, split by clause and kept with their effective dates
Regulatory ordersthe Commission's orders register, checked hourly
Fuel surcharge noticeseach notice read within the hour of publication, by quarter
Internal billing proceduresrounding, VAT, move-in and move-out bills, leak allowances
Bill linesread only, to reconcile every answer with the bill
The live callthe customer's account, rate and bill on the call, read only
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
85%
of bill and tariff questions resolved on the first contact, from 71%
Today71%
With worked answers85%
estimated
AED 1.5Ma year
in repeat contacts avoided: 43,100 calls × AED 35
Repeat contacts today86,200 a year
With worked answers43,100 a year
target
100%
of rates quoted from the version in force on the bill date
every rate
cited to its clause and version

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the pilot · “estimated” = our arithmetic on the demo utility's inputs, replaced by the customer's: 478,800 bill and tariff calls a year × 18% repeat = 86,200 repeat contacts, half avoided = 43,100 × AED 35 a call; the minutes split is our estimate · “typical” = published figures: E Source (average cost per call $9.54 ≈ AED 35; at NSTAR 90%+ of customers resolved on the first call were satisfied, against 59% after a call-back); Guidehouse for GridX (50,000+ approved US electricity rates). Regulatory context: commissions order refunds of rates charged before their effective date (Hawaii PUC, Hana Water Systems, 2019). Lumina Utilities, the Calder Utilities Commission and the people, accounts, tariffs, documents and records named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What customer care, billing and rates teams ask us.

What is tariff knowledge search software for utilities?

Software that answers tariff and bill questions for contact-centre agents and billing analysts from the utility's own tariff book — schedules, riders, Commission orders, fuel surcharge notices and billing procedures. Tariff Knowledge Search answers with the worked bill, every rate cited to the clause in force on the bill date.

How does it explain how a charge was calculated?

The agent asks in plain words, for example “What does 4,200 kWh cost in summer?”. Five agents read the question and the call, find the clauses in force, work the slabs, the fuel surcharge, the meter charge and VAT line by line, check each rate against its clause and reconcile with the bill. In the sample case the working matched the August bill to the fils.

Does it use the rate that was in force on the bill date?

Yes. Answers quote the version in force on the bill's read date, so an August 2025 bill is worked without a rider that only came into force in May 2026. Superseded versions stay searchable and are marked when cited. In the sample week, 0 of 3,412 answers quoted a superseded rate.

Can agents change the use, season or month during the call?

Yes. The answer is a live calculator: change the consumption, the season, the bill month, the service or the senior citizen rider inside it, or drag the slab bar, and every line, the total and the citations update in place, with a one-line note of what changed.

What happens when the tariff and a billing procedure disagree?

The answer is held, not guessed. The rates analyst sees both clauses and both workings side by side and rules: tariff governs, procedure governs, or ask regulatory affairs. A procedure change is drafted for the regulatory affairs manager to sign.

How does it keep up with new orders and fuel surcharge notices?

The change watcher reads each new Commission order and fuel notice within the hour of publication, drafts the redline and the reading, and lists the procedures and answers it affects. No answer uses it until the rates analyst approves the reading, and then only for reads from its effective date.

Do people stay in control of what customers are told?

Yes. The contact-centre agent decides what to tell the customer, the billing and rates analyst decides how the tariff is read, and the regulatory affairs manager signs procedure changes. The agents never change a bill, a rate or a procedure, and every answer is in the answer log.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your tariff schedules, riders, orders, fuel notices and billing procedures, and a sample of your bill questions — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own tariff book first.

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