The Effectiveness of Billing Systems in Public Utilitities and Business Performance: A case of UMEME Natete Branch

Abstract

The study focused on examining how billing systems effectively influence business performance in public utilities; a case of Umeme Limited. Specifically the study sought to: examine the effectiveness of prepaid billing; postpaid billing system, and finally to examine the effectiveness of employee performance on billing systems in influencing business performance at Umeme Ltd. The study used a cross sectional survey research design adopting both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The researcher sampled 381 respondents. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used. Methods of data collection included; questionnaire survey, interview guide and documentary review. Data analysis was both quantitative and qualitative, quantitative data analysis was carried out by the use of predictive modeling which included Pearson’s correlation co-efficient and regression models to determine the relationship between billing system (IV), business performance ( DV) and employee performance (MV). Qualitative data was analyzed through quoting and paraphrasing of statements. Findings of the study revealed that billing systems positively influence business performance at Umeme. Similarly the findings revealed that prepaid billing system has a strong positive influence; postpaid billing system has a moderate positive influence and employee performance has a moderate positive influence on business performance at Umeme Ltd. The study recommended that; Umeme management should ensure employee training especially those in billing technologies, set up a policy to improve complaint resolution so that customer complaints are resolved faster. Similarly, study findings revealed that Umeme should increase awareness of payment alternatives since most of the respondents only know a few. Finally, the researcher recommended that Umeme should convert most of the customers to prepaid since its benefits are more compared to postpaid.