CHARPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1    GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The Council for Electronic Billing and Payment of the National Automated Clearing House Association is credited with broadly promoting and communicating various forms of electronic billing in the USA. Certain electronic billing applications also provide the ability to electronically settle payment for goods or services. Customers of banks and billing companies can utilize the internet or telecommunications to conveniently remit payment or access billing information. The service is also supported by customer service representatives (CSRs), which may be contacted directly by the consumer to facilitate payments or receive general assistance and answer questions. It can produce substantial savings to traditional print & mail billing and payment remittance, and as an added benefit results in a significant reduction in the use of paper.                                                    Billing may refer to, the process of sending an invoice to customers for goods or services, electronic billing, telecommunications billing, systems and methods that collect information about calls and other services to be billed to the subscriber, medical billing.   Electronic billing or electronic bill payment and presentment, is when a company, organization, or group sends its bills over the internet, and customers pay the bills electronically.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF BILLING
1.    Biller-direct - This refers to an approach in which consumers make payments directly to one biller that issues bills that they receive at the website of the firm that issued the bill. An example would be of a public utility company offering this payment service to its consumers. A market has emerged for outsourced billing providers who specialize in electronic billing processes and technology for companies that need to send bills directly to their customers.
2.    Bank-aggregator - The approach under this model is to make payment at an aggregator or consolidator site, usually from a consumer's bank’s website. This model allows the consumer to make payments to multiple billers that are pre-registered to receive payments. An example in the UK is OneVu.                                                                                                          PARTIES INVOLVED                                            Billers, bankers, aggregators and consolidators can play various roles in the overall process. Once roles are defined, it is easier to identify which model is most appropriate for the client's strategy. Billers may also implement more than one model in order to best serve their clients. Because the industry is continuously changing and redefining, the options and opportunities will continue to expand.
1    Biller payment provider (BPP) - An agent of the biller that accepts remittance information on behalf of the Biller.
2    Biller service provider (BSP) - An agent of the biller that provides the service for the Biller.
3    Consolidator - A biller service provider that consolidates bills from multiple Billers or other bill service providers (BSPs) and delivers them for presentment to the customer service provider (CSP).
4    Customer service provider (CSP) – An agent of the customer that provides an interface    directly to customers, businesses or others for bill presentment. CSP enrolls customers, enables presentment and provides customer care, among other functions.
 Computers have become extremely important to every aspect of our lives. They became everyday tools in the 1990s and our lives will never be the same again and we cannot imagine a world without them. Computers ensure we can input data extremely quickly and easily and find fact, figures and virtually any information we require at the click of a mouse. They ensure we can accomplish many tasks in a fraction of the time, it would have taken a lot of time prior to the use of computers. Computers can also store a massive amount of data in an extremely small space, meaning it is all kept together and is easily accessible and we no longer need excessively large filing cabinets.
             Like all other professions, computers have helped man in the use of natural resources like water. Computers and IT technology are used throughout the water distribution and billing process. Computer software has been developed to display the quantity and price of water distributed within a period of time, help to determine the quantity of water resources left at the end of the day’s transaction.