The University of Alberta, located in Edmonton, AB, has in excess of 36,500 students in over 200 undergraduate and 170 graduate programs and is one of Canada’s leading universities. Within the university, the Utilities Department operates a large district energy system that services approximately 121 hectares and more than 90 buildings. They supply electricity as well as gas, district heating and cooling, water, sewer, chilled water, and demineralized water to over 580 sites. Some services are generated internally while others, such as water and natural gas, are provided by external utilities. Electricity is generated on-site or provided by external utilities depending on market opportunities.

Although the Utilities Department manages a relatively small number of accounts and meters, they required a CIS solution with a high degree of complexity to accommodate their billing requirements due to optimization of production and distribution assets. Utilities staff aggregate and allocate charges to university departments and external organizations based on the metered consumption for each building.

The University chose to go through a formal evaluation process by issuing a request for proposal. The Utilities Department eventually chose the NorthStar v6 CIS based on its ability to effectively manage their complex billing process which included six metered services.

“By choosing NorthStar, our goal is to streamline the billing and reporting requirements,” stated Terry Nonay, Utility Service Manager. “Also, by using NorthStar’s customer web portal, we can provide our end customers with more detail on their consumption and billing.”

NorthStar v6 represents the next generation of CIS software. Incorporating a state-of-the-art user interface, it provides users with business-focused functionality and ease of use. NorthStar v6 continues to deliver innovative, utility-specific features in a robust environment that is cross-database and cross-platform capable. Harris NorthStar is dedicated to giving customers value driven software with unparalleled customer support.

About Harris
Harris is a leading provider of utility customer information systems (CIS), billing, and financial management software solutions. Since 1976, Harris has focused on providing feature-rich and robust turnkey solutions to public power and water markets as well as all levels of local government throughout North America. Harris' focus is on creating long-term relationships with our customers and ensuring that we meet the changing needs of our customers over time.

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