Utility Accounts Office Overview

What is the Utility Accounts Office? 

The Utility Accounts Office is a headquarters group responsible for institutionalizing Procedural Directive (PD) 90.1 into the applicable aspects of CDOT's daily functions. The Utility Accounts Office leads the way for the Regional Utility Account Coordinators in complying with PD 90.1, while giving them the autonomy to comply with the processes established uniquely to their region. The Utility Accounts Office is the owner of the centralize database for all utility accounts. The Utility Accounts Office is focused on accurate utility accounts. The Utility Accounts Office is not responsible for tracking utilities geospatially for Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE), setting up utility services for projects, or permitting. For more information on these topics, refer to the Utility & Special Use Program. Additionally, the Utility Accounts Office is not responsible for the payment of bills. Utility bills are processed and paid through the applicable Business Office. The Utility Accounts Office is responsible for providing the Business Office with an accurate inventory of utilities and investigating received bills with no record in the Utility Database to ensure only validated bills are paid. 

History of the Utility Account Office

The Utility Account Office was created as the result of an audit conducted in 2019. There were six key findings: 

  1. An inventory of utility accounts opened for a specific period is not readily or easily known nor maintained,
  2. Information on who opened utility accounts is not readily or easily known nor maintained,
  3. CDOT lacks a validation process to ensure the person opening an utility account is authorized to do so,
  4. CDOT lacks a validation process to ensure the proper party pays a utility invoice (CDOT's responsibility or a third party).
  5. Projected completion dates for temporary utility accounts are not entered in SAP, which could serve as a reminder as when an account should be closed,
  6. CDOT lacks a process to help identify devices that have been discontinued in use but continued to be billed as a flat rate utility account, and flat rate meters that were replaced by metered accounts based on actual usage (CDOT has been invoiced, and-paid, for both at times).

PD 90.1

In response to the 2019 Audit, the Utility Account Office, as part of the ITS & Network Service Branch, brought together a project team and utilized a charter to guide the development of what is now PD 90.1  “Utility Account Management” (will be referred to as PD 90.1). The object of PD 90.1 is to establish procedures and clarify roles and responsibilities to ensure all utility services for CDOT Assets are managed, validated, and paid by the appropriate party. PD 90.1 establishes:

  • Clearly defined roles and responsibilities and a structure for accountability, 
  • a procedure to Update Utility Services,
  • a procedure for Utility Account Invoicing, and 
  • a procedure for Utility Account Annual Validation.

PD 90.1 PDF