GS1 UK was recently approached by The London Energy Project to investigate the development of a new standard electronic message for utility billing.

Within industry it is widely recognised that between 1 and 3% of utility costs can be recovered by identifying erroneous invoices. Similarly, manual or part manual processing of bills leads to inefficiencies and increased administration and payment costs. 

The London Energy Project believed that by improving invoice quality and working with utility companies and their customers this could be reduced.  To achieve these benefits, a single, standardised approach to electronic utility billing should be developed, which would enable more efficient processing and validation of utility bills for multi-site customers.

An initial meeting was facilitated by GS1 UK and LEP in London on Wednesday 20 May 2009. Over 35 people attended from all areas of the industry, including utility suppliers, their customers, large energy buying organisations, local authorities and leading solution providers.

To view the presentations from the day please click the links below:

Tim Brown, GS1 UK
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Shan Welch, GS1 UK
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Kenneth Naylor, Co-operative Group
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Jon Lindop, Team Energy
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It is anticipated that it will take approximately one year for this message to be defined and adopted as a GS1 global standard. Work started in July 2009. The expected benefits for utility companies and their customers – in both the private and public sector – will be significant:

• Reduced billing costs for utility suppliers
• More accurate utility bills for customers
• Easier reconciliation and faster payments

USIG is now meeting regularly. Members include ASDA, British Independent Utilities, Centrica, Corona Energy, Dairy Crest, DSG International, EDF, GDF Suez, Kent Commercial Services, London Energy Project, Mitchells & Butlers, Nestle, Northern Foods, npower, Optima Energy Management, RWE, Scottish & Southern Electric, Stark, STC Energy, Team and Tesco.

For the latest information please contact Shan Welch at GS1 UK on 44 (0)207 092 3579.