Rate code validation for every account, every night — each wrong tariff found with its clause, its proof and its refund or back-bill worked out
Every account checked every night, every wrong tariff fixed with its refund worked out.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Every bill is priced by the rate code on the account. When a villa run as a nursery becomes a family home, a ground-floor unit opens as a grocery, a warehouse raises its connected load, a title deed changes hands or rooftop solar is connected, the tariff should change — and often nobody tells billing. The bill still computes, so no exception fires. Pre-invoice validation in the billing system checks that a bill adds up, not that the account belongs on its tariff.
So a wrong code surfaces as a complaint, an internal audit sample or a regulator's order, years later — when the refund is large and the back-bill is time-barred. Rate audits check the record, and the record says “villa”. At Lumina's scale of 1,184,400 accounts, checking 50 accounts a week by hand covers about 0.2 % of them in a year. Under-billing past the back-bill limit is revenue lost for good; over-charging is a customer harm and a regulatory exposure.
Estimated split for one mis-rated account, in working days, by hand and with the solution. The with-the-solution figures follow the medians on the Results screen — 2.4 days from a red cell to a corrected bill.
Six agents read the tariff book, the account, its documents and how the meter is used, and work out every month; the rates analyst clears each red cell.
Lumina Utilities bills 1,184,400 accounts from its 2026 tariff book, edition 3. On 13 Oct 2026 the nightly check runs from 01:00 to 02:47. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
The tariff book reader reads edition 3 into six eligibility rules tied to 41 clauses. The account profiler reads 1,184,400 accounts with their tariff history and load; the document checker matches 642,180 licences, tenancies, deeds and certificates; the usage shape reader scores 1,092,600 meters on 90 days of hourly reads. By 02:31 the rebill calculator has rebilled every account that breaks a rule, month by month, and by 02:44 the letter writer has drafted 1,100 notices in Arabic and English.
“1,312 break a rule · 214 worth over AED 1,000 come first”
Aisha's tariff check puts accounts down the side and the six rules across the top — premise use, connected load, usage shape, household status, riders, tariff code. Each usage-shape cell draws the meter's 24 hours against what its tariff expects. Unit G-03 at Saffron Creek Residences is billed R1 Residential, but its load is flat from 07:00 to 23:00 every day: shop, 0.88. Trade licence TL-771904 for Saffron Fresh Grocery has been active at the premise since 4 Mar 2025.
The fix: R1 → C1 from 4 Mar 2025 · 19 months wrong, back-bill held to the 12-month limit · AED 5,502.45 incl. VAT
The first red cell on the list is Villa 31, Zahra Gardens, account 2041 778 330, billed C1 Commercial. The premise-use cell reads “Licence cancelled 18 Jul 2024 · tenancy residential”. The rail beside it quotes the clause, draws the villa's shape against the daytime office shape C1 expects, and shows the fix already worked out: R1 Residential from 1 Aug 2024, 26 months rebilled.
Clause 4.2: “C1 applies to premises used for trade, with an active trade licence or a commercial tenancy registered at the premise.”
The account shows the tariff history: C1 for Little Steps Home Nursery under trade licence TL-604218 from March 2021, then C1 for a family home that should be R1. The licence was cancelled on 18 Jul 2024; tenancy registration EJ-2024-0815532 for Samir Haddad and his family is residential from 1 Aug 2024. Each record opens from the evidence list — licence register, tenancy registry, premise register 410 778 031 and the hourly reads from meter EM-4417031.
Premise register: “C1 Commercial since 9 Mar 2021 · not changed at the move-in”
Ninety days of hourly reads show a home: lowest 08:00–15:00, peak 19:00–23:00, weekend daytime use 24 % above weekdays. Home · villa scores 0.91; office · daytime, what C1 expects, 0.22. The rebill calculator prices the same kWh on R1 for each of the 26 months, Aug 2024 to Sep 2026: 70,035 kWh, AED 25,032.25 billed on C1 against AED 17,470.38 on R1, before VAT.
Refund to the customer: AED 7,940.00 incl. 5 % VAT · 26 months, every month shown
The letter to Samir Haddad says what was wrong, the new tariff, the months and the amount: Lumina has corrected the tariff and will refund AED 7,940.00, including VAT, as a credit on the next bill, with a table of every month. It apologises for Lumina's error and tells him he does not need to do anything. Aisha approves the wording; the letter waits for the signature.
“Drafted by the Customer letter writer · sent after Omar Siddiqui signs”
Aisha clears the cell. A refund over AED 5,000 goes to Omar Siddiqui, who signs every back-bill and every refund above that line. The sign-off shows each step in order — agents proposed with the evidence, Aisha cleared, Omar signed, Priya Nair raises the rebill in billing, and the letter goes out in Arabic and English.
“Omar Siddiqui signed the AED 7,940.00 refund · Villa 31”
Warehouse 12 in Lumina Industrial Area is billed C1 Commercial. Load upgrade LU-25-0412 raised its connected load from 380 to 1,250 kVA on 3 Jun 2025, with a demand meter fitted — and no tariff change was raised. Clause 3.1 puts 400 kVA and above on I1 Industrial. Rebilled over 16 months with the demand charge, Northgate Cold Stores LLC is owed AED 105,352.80. Accounts of 400 kVA or more go to Daniel Brooks as well as Omar.
Run log: “Key account · Daniel Brooks to call before the letter”
Townhouse 7 at Rimal Heights shows more daytime use since July 2026, scoring 0.71 against the office template — below the 0.80 the settings require. The document checker finds no trade licence and no commercial tenancy at the premise. The cell stays amber, the account stays on R1, and it is looked at again on 11 Jan 2027.
“The usage shape alone never changes a tariff; a licence, tenancy or record must agree.”
Since go-live on 6 Jul 2026 the Results screen shows AED 3.92M refunded to 1,507 over-charged customers before they had to complain, AED 1.77M back-billed to 979 accounts inside the 12-month limit with instalments, 2,486 accounts corrected and signed, and no back-bill over the limit. The biggest cause: occupancy changed and the tariff did not, on 945 accounts.
“Median 2.4 days from a red cell to a corrected bill. Before, a wrong tariff was found when the customer complained or an audit sample reached it.”
The same wrong tariff, seen by the four people who fix it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents read the tariff book, the account, its documents and how the meter is used, and work out every month; the rates analyst clears each red cell.
Reads the tariff book and its amendments into eligibility rules — premise use, connected load band, household status, riders and whether a code is in force — each tied to its clause, and names the successor of every retired code.
Pulls premise type, connected load, household status, riders and tariff history with dates for every account, from billing, the premise register and the connections system.
Looks up every trade licence, tenancy registration, title deed and solar connection certificate registered at the premise number, and gives its status, its dates and the field that matters.
Averages 90 days of hourly reads by day of week and hour and scores the shape against templates — home villa, home apartment, shop, office, cold store, school, farm — giving the best match and the match for the tariff billed.
Prices the same kWh and demand on the right tariff for every month on the wrong one, with VAT. Refunds over-charges for the whole period on record, up to 84 months; back-bills under-charges for no more than 12.
Drafts a short, plain notice in Arabic and English: what was wrong, the new tariff, the months and the amount. Offers instalments on a back-bill and apologises when the error was Lumina's.
Clears the cell; the manager signs. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any account, rule, refund or back-bill — or say what to change. Every answer points to its records.
Why is Villa 31 on the commercial tariff?
Because nobody changed it when the nursery closed. Villa 31 was licensed as Little Steps Home Nursery until 18 Jul 2024. The Haddad family has lived there since 1 Aug 2024 on a residential tenancy, and the meter shows a home: evening peak, busier weekends. Clause 4.2 puts it on R1. Rebilled over 26 months, Lumina owes AED 7,940.00.
Which shops are billed as homes?
183 accounts on R1 or R2 have a shop or office shape above 0.80 and a trade licence at the premise. The largest is Unit G-03, Saffron Creek: flat 07:00–23:00 every day, grocery licence since 4 Mar 2025. Back-bill AED 5,502.45, held to 12 months.
How much do we owe in refunds from last night?
Last night's check found 788 accounts owed a refund, AED 2.31M, and 524 under-billed, AED 1.07M within the limit. On today's list the largest refund is Warehouse 12, AED 105,352.80, a key account for Daniel Brooks.
Show the accounts still on retired codes
212 accounts still carry a code retired on 1 Jan 2026. They are price-neutral, so they recode without a rebill. Lumina Primary School is on today's list: clear its cell to recode it to G1; the other 211 can be recoded together from the Tariff book.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The back-bill limit, the refund lookback, who signs and how strict the checks are are settings, chosen by the rates team — and every change is saved as a new rules version.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Back-bill limit when the error is Lumina's | 12 months | 1 to 24 months — how far back a corrected account may be billed |
| Refund lookback | Whole period, up to 84 months | Whole period, up to 60 months · up to 84 months · up to 120 months |
| Manager sign-off | AED 5,000 | AED 2,000 · AED 5,000 · AED 10,000 — refunds above it, and every back-bill, need the rates and tariffs manager |
| Nightly check | Every night at 01:00 | Every night at 01:00 · Every night at 03:00 · Every Sunday at 01:00 |
| Usage shape confidence | 0.80 | 0.60 to 0.95 — the lowest template match that counts as a signal |
| Two signals before an account moves | On | Always on — the usage shape alone never changes a tariff |
| Look again at amber cells | 90 days | 30 days · 60 days · 90 days |
| Key accounts | On | On · Off — connected load of 400 kVA or more goes to the key account manager too |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample accounts · “target” = the design goal, measured in the pilot · “estimated” = our arithmetic, inputs shown (AED 3.4M = 1,312 accounts found in one nightly check × AED 2,590 average yearly difference, Lumina sample figures; the working-days split is our estimate) · “typical” = published figures (Nevada Independent and KOLO, 2026: NV Energy refunding more than $63M with interest for about 43,000 homes billed on the wrong rate class; Vermont Business Magazine, 2014: Burlington Electric over-billed the city by $1.78M). Back-billing limits named as context: Fla. Admin. Code 25-6.106 and 25-30.350 (12 months for gas and water), Utility Regulator NI (13 months); New York bill S8530 (2025) would require a misclassified account to be moved to the right rate code. Lumina Utilities and the people, premises, companies, licences, tenancies and records named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that checks every utility account is on the tariff, or rate code, it qualifies for — and works out the refund or back-bill when it is not. Rate Code Validation checks every account every night against the tariff book's eligibility rules, and a rates analyst clears each account it flags.
Six agents read the tariff book into rules tied to their clauses, profile each account, check the licences, tenancies, deeds and certificates at the premise, score 90 days of hourly reads, and rebill every month on the right tariff. Each broken rule becomes a red cell with its clause, its proof and its money.
It reads how the meter is used, not only the record. A shop's flat trading-hours load or a home's evening peak is scored against shape templates, and a matching trade licence or tenancy confirms it. In the sample, a grocery billed as a home scored 0.88 on the shop template and held an active trade licence.
No. The shape is one signal; a licence, tenancy or record must agree before an account moves, and that rule cannot be switched off. With one signal the cell stays amber and the account is looked at again after 90 days.
The rebill calculator prices the same kWh and demand on the right tariff for every month, with VAT, and shows both prices. Over-charges are refunded for the whole period on record, up to 84 months; back-bills for the utility's own error stop at the back-bill limit, 12 months in the sample, with instalments.
Yes. The agents read, check, score and calculate, and never move an account or send a bill. A rates analyst clears each cell, the rates and tariffs manager signs every back-bill and every refund over AED 5,000, and accounts of 400 kVA or more go to the key account manager too.
An amendment is added on the Tariff book screen. The tariff book reader reads it into rules and shows what would change before anything is published, and the rates and tariffs manager publishes it. Retired codes go to their successor; price-neutral recodes need no rebill.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your tariff book, billing rules, letter templates and a sample of accounts — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own accounts first.
Held bills cleared in two days, not six, with the cause and the fix attached.
1-min demoHigh Bill InvestigationUsage, tariff, weather or leak: the real reason, in plain words.
1-min demoRevenue Assurance AnalyticsRecover the 2-4% that leaks between meter and bill.
1-min demoWe'll run Rate Code Validation on your own tariff book and a sample of your accounts.