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Northwest Natural logoNorthwest Natural

Natural gas utility improved billing accuracy, trust, and efficiency for more than 800,000 energy customers with SAP-integrated content automation

Northwest Natural logo

About Northwest Natural

NW Natural is a leading natural gas utility serving Oregon and southwest Washington. With more than 125 years of service, the company is known for safety, reliability, and strong community partnerships, delivering energy to over 800,000 customers.

See how NW Natural reimagines customer communications and billing with OpenText and SAP® solutions
  • Customers:
    800,000+
  • Founded:
    1896
  • Headquarters:
    Portland, Oregon
  • Employees:
    1,200+

Summary

Challenges

  • Billing and document systems needed manual oversight.
  • Limited visibility into historical bills made it difficult to assist customers.
  • Needed to modernize with proven, secure, and stable technology.

Solution

  • Launched a modernization project dubbed “Composition 2.0.”
  • Replaced paper forms with a digital-first approach.
  • Leveraged OpenText™ content management expertise.

Results

  • Cut billing time by nearly 50%
  • Empowered a small IT team
  • Improved the customer service experience

Challenges

  • Homegrown billing and document systems required manual oversight and slowed operations
  • Limited visibility into historical bills made it difficult for agents to assist customers
  • Needed modernization that preserved trust, met security standards, and supported scale

For NW Natural, a 125-year legacy of reliability was at risk of being slowed down by technical debt. Their homegrown billing shop was labor-intensive and lacked modern data retention. Before implementing OpenText solutions, the company had no way to store or retrieve historical data from the invoices they generated. This created a significant hurdle for customer service; when a customer called with a question about their bill, the agent on the line couldn't see the exact document the customer was holding.

As the company expanded—doubling the size of the IT organization and acquiring water utilities—the "Department of One" responsible for these systems, Application Engineer Benjamin Fraticelli, faced a monumental task. The utility needed a solution that was tried and true to meet strict SecOps requirements and TSA regulations for pipeline safety. They needed a partner that could help them transition from a manual, all-night monitoring process to a streamlined, automated environment that maintained the trust their community has relied on since the 19th century.

As the IT environment expanded, including new SAP® applications, water utility acquisitions, and growing cybersecurity requirements, the company needed technology that was proven, secure, and stable. “Utilities don’t adapt bleeding-edge tech overnight,” explained Fraticelli. “We needed a foundation we could grow into.”

A person holding a tablet

Without OpenText, these processes would require more people and significantly more time. When the technology makes it easier for our agents, the entire customer experience improves.

Benjamin Fraticelli
Application Engineer, Northwest Natural

Solution

Through a project called “Composition 2.0,” NW Natural used OpenText content management solutions to enable faster, more accurate, and more transparent customer interactions.

Products deployed

Launched “Composition 2.0”: A blueprint for modernization

The "Composition 2.0" project was a total revitalization of NW Natural’s document ecosystem. By implementing OpenText Document Presentment for SAP Solutions, the utility didn't just automate bills—they modernized the way they talk to their customers. The solution was dynamic enough to handle complex calculations and compositions, allowing business users to directly edit and update letters and notices without needing heavy IT intervention. This empowered the business side of the house to be more agile in their communications.

Replacing paper with a digital-first approach

NW Natural re-architected their OpenText™ Archive Center for SAP® Solutions using a shared failover cluster between two locations. This ensured that even during maintenance or outages, data remained accessible and reliable. The integration extended into the field via Clevest Solutions and SAP, where technicians now use tablets to pull blueprints and schematics directly from OpenText. This digital-first approach replaced paper forms, significantly increasing field safety, efficiency, and decision-making on job sites.

Relying on content management experts

Throughout this journey, OpenText Professional Services acted as an extension of the NW Natural team, providing the "wealth of knowledge" and documentation necessary to scale a critical utility infrastructure.

“OpenText gives us flexibility and the expert guidance we need. I can reach out anytime and get quick answers. It’s what I expect from a partner,” said Fraticelli.

A person holding a tablet in power plant

OpenText gives us flexibility and the expert guidance we need. I can reach out anytime and get quick answers. It’s what I expect from a partner.

Benjamin Fraticelli
Application Engineer, Northwest Natural

Results

NW Natural sped up billing cycles, improved invoice accuracy, increased cash flow, cut dispute volume, and boosted customer trust. Real-time bill visibility and automated workflows improved efficiency across IT, customer service, AP, and field operations.

Cut billing time nearly in half

The billing process that once required an operator from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am is now completed in about half the time. Automation improved timeliness, accuracy, and throughput, leading to faster payments and stronger cash flow.

OpenText enabled accurate, easy-to-read statements that reduce confusion, lower dispute volumes, and increase customer confidence. “People want accurate, timely bills,” Fraticelli said. “OpenText helps us deliver that.”

Empowered a small IT team

As a department of one, Fraticelli emphasizes the scale OpenText enables. “Without OpenText, these processes would require more people and significantly more time,” Fraticelli explained. “When the technology makes it easier for our agents, the entire customer experience improves.”

Improved the customer service experience

Agents can now open the exact bill the customer is viewing, resulting in calmer, clearer conversations and fewer escalations. Better clarity also drives adoption of paperless billing, supporting sustainability goals.

The stress of "flying blind" is gone. This transparency builds a deeper level of trust with the 800,000 customers they serve. Digitization has also moved the needle on sustainability; by improving the clarity of digital bills, NW Natural has made it easier for customers to opt-in to paperless programs, reducing environmental waste and supporting their goal of being good environmental stewards.

Looking ahead, NW Natural is focused on strengthening cybersecurity, increasing agility for patches and upgrades, and exploring new use cases for OpenText Content Management and AI—such as knowledge discovery and giving field engineers faster access to schematics and maintenance documentation. With OpenText as a stable foundation, the company is positioned to evolve while preserving the trust it has earned over generations.

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