About Alberta Utility Billing
In 2015, AUB stepped up to make things easier for energy providers and their customers.
Our story
Alberta’s energy system is complex. Energy providers and their customers know that. In 1996, Alberta began restructuring, moving to a market-based system with many buyers and sellers. With opportunity came intricacy. Anne and Steve Glass stepped up to make things easier. They formed Alberta Utility Billing Inc. (AUB) to simplify and strengthen the business for energy retailers.
For Anne Glass, the story started shortly after Alberta passed the 1996 Electric Utilities Act. She joined ATCO I-Tek which was adapting to the new legislation. Anne led the team that built ATCO’s Complex System (ACS)—new billing software for large industrial customers. She also led the team that calculated and produced the bills.
After almost a decade with ATCO I-Tek, Anne moved to the Alberta Utilities Commission—AUC. She worked with stakeholders, drafting many of the rules that govern Alberta’ utility system.
From that vantage point, she saw a need. Companies, like ENMAX and Direct Energy, can build their own billing systems. But what about the other energy retailers? Who can they rely on?
Anne left the AUC to fulfil that need. She and her husband, Steve Glass, formed Alberta Utility Billing—AUB. While Anne knew energy, Steve understood customers. He had spent years in customer service.
On a cold January day in 2015, Anne began applying decades of energy knowledge to new billing software. She designed Clara CIS, a secure ORACLE database that uses a software-as-service model. Billing agents can see customer information and run the software at the same time. Clara CIS makes both service and accuracy easier.
AUB would also offer an Alberta call centre. The retailers who signed on with Alberta Utility Billing could offer exceptional service to their customers. When their customers called the support line, they would reach AUB. They would talk to an Albertan who knows how important their power or heat is. Staffing a local call centre also meant reversing the trend of utility jobs moving out of the province and overseas.
AUB’s first customer was Alberta Co-operative Energy—ACE. Other retailers soon followed. Today, AUB serves ACE, Gas Alberta Energy, North Parkland Power Co-op, Lakeland Rural Electrification Association and Blue Mountain Power Co-op. AUB custom designs bills for their unique business. Bills are one way retailers communicate with customers. AUB uses the bill designs as vehicles for clients to communicate to their customers in an attractive and clear way.
Alberta Utility Billing—AUB—has grown into a team of billing and energy experts.
“I enjoy it,” Anne says about billing. “I enjoy the programming, analysis and importance of doing things right in this industry.”
The entire team shares that tenacity, which makes AUB your reliable billing agent. Custom software. A local call centre. Bills that communicate. Data that adds up.