Nicor Gas, with 2.2 million meters, is one of the largest gas utilities in the United States. Historically, bad debt was not a significant issue for Nicor until 2001, when volatile gas prices began to drive up the level of uncollectibles. The regulatory environment in Illinois is bleak; no Illinois gas utility has any kind of bad debt recovery mechanism other than a traditional rate case.

Nicor replaced its 40 year old CIS in 2006 with Oracle's CC&B system. After the CIS implementation, Nicor began to implement new credit and collection processes, using the new CIS as a platform.

The new processes combine the expanded data model of the new CIS system, credit risk modeling data from a third party credit bureau and the marketing concepts of "frequency" and "reach". This has resulted in more recoveries, much slower growth in write offs and a reduction in collection expenses.

In 2007 and 2008, Nicor's bad debts as a percent of revenue was almost half that of the AGA Midwest average. Nicor's collection cost per customer is 30% lower than other utilities benchmarks.

Sharon Grove has extensive experience in streamlining and improving revenue conversion cycles via the meter-to-cash process in a utility environment. She has been general manager of customer service at Nicor Gas since 2007, having previous experience at ComEd and Exelon Corporation. Sharon has a BS in business and economics from Lehigh University and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Other sessions include:

Latest Approaches to Applying Technology to Customer Service

What is Your CIS Strategy?

Energy Efficiency - Leading the Parade

About Building Customer Excellence

The New Prosumer

AMI/MDM Shootout

How Customer Expectations are Driving a New Vision for Electric Utilities

The Changing Landscape of Contact Centers