How to
How to cut a final bill when a property changes hands
A house on your system sells on November 15. The seller owes for October 1 through November 15; the buyer owes from November 16 on. Usually that means a calculator, a one-off invoice typed by hand, and a note to remember to change the name before the next run. In BasicBMS it's one panel on the service point: pick the move-out date and the new owner, check the preview, and create the bill. The seller is billed for exactly their days, and the point bills the buyer from the next day on.
Before you start
- The service point has a recurring billing schedule. Its cycle is what the final bill prorates against.
- The point has an Invoice Template: and a Rate Item: set.
- The new owner exists as a customer, if you're switching the point to them now.
- On a Metered point, the final meter read is entered, dated on or before the move-out date.
Steps
Open Metering → Service Points and open the point.
In the Billing section, click Final bill. The button shows only on a point with a billing schedule.
Set Move-out date: to the outgoing customer's last day of service.
In Then bill:, pick the new owner. Leave it on Keep the current customer if nobody is taking over yet.
Read the preview. It names who is billed and for which days, for example "[Customer] is billed for 10/01/2026 – 11/15/2026 (46 of 92 days). The bill stays theirs on aging.", followed by each line and the Total.
On a metered point, check the usage line under the preview. It reads either "Usage: 8000 units from 1 unbilled read(s) through the move-out date." or "No unbilled reads through the move-out date. Enter the final meter read first if usage should be on this bill." If it's the second one and there should be usage, close the panel, enter the read, and start again.
Click Create final bill. The confirmation reads like "Final bill created for [old customer]: 10/01/2026 – 11/15/2026, $75.00. The point now bills [new customer]." Click Open the final bill to see it. Its header carries the Service Period.
What just happened. The final bill is posted to the ledger, listed on Billing → Dashboard, and made out to the outgoing customer. It stays on their aging until it's paid, and their earlier bills don't move. The point now names the new customer, and its next recurring bill starts the day after the move-out date: on a quarterly schedule, the January 1 bill covers November 16 to December 31.
The arithmetic. Fixed charges are prorated by days in the period over days in the cycle. On a $150 quarterly rate with a 92-day quarter, a November 15 move-out bills 46 of 92 days, $75.00, and the new owner's first bill is the other 46 days, $75.00. On a metered point, the reads through the move-out date are priced on the rate's usage blocks, unprorated. A January 20 move-out on a $45 base with 5,000 gallons included and an 8,000-gallon final read bills 20 of 90 days of base ($10.00) plus 3,000 gallons at $0.003 ($9.00): $19.00.
What posts behind it
The final bill posts like any bill, to the outgoing customer. The November 15 example:
| Account | Debit | Credit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DR | Accounts Receivable (outgoing customer) | 75.00 | — |
| CR | The rate item's GL Sales account (or GL Defaults Inventory Sales) | — | 75.00 |
| Balanced | 75.00 | 75.00 |
Changing the customer on the point posts nothing.
When it won’t let you
This point is already billed through 11/15/2026; there is nothing left to bill to 11/15/2026. A final bill already covers those days. Each day is billed once, so a second final bill for the same dates is refused.
This point needs a recurring billing schedule — its cycle is what a final bill prorates against. Without a schedule there's no cycle to take a share of. Set up billing on the point first.
Set the point's invoice template first. The point has no Invoice Template:. Pick one and save.
Set the point's rate item first. The point has no Rate Item:.
This point has no customer to bill. Customer: is empty, so there's nobody to send a final bill to.
The final bill comes to $0.00, so nothing was billed. Nothing was owed for those days, so no bill was created.
What this doesn't do
It doesn't estimate usage. If the final read isn't in, the bill carries the prorated fixed charges only; enter the read first if usage belongs on it. There are no refunds or credits for days billed in advance, because bills are in arrears and no days are billed ahead. And it doesn't move or close the outgoing customer's account: their open bills stay theirs until paid.
Related
Stuck on this one? Call (509) 955-0770 and we'll walk through it with you.
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