Food and medicine spoilage reimbursement
How do we take a food and medicine spoilage claim after a qualifying outage, check eligibility by rule, collect the receipts or the list, and pay or credit it?
Run the claim against the outage record and the rule the commission set. After a qualifying outage, Callvu opens the claim from the customer's request, prefills the account and the premise's interruption data, classifies eligibility by rule (the outage duration and cause, the residential class, the claim window, the program's cap), asks the customer for the itemized list or the receipts on their phone (with photos where the rule accepts them in place of receipts), reads and checks each against the cap and the categories (food, prescription medicine), routes a claim above the cap, outside the window or with a disputed duration to the claims desk in the Decision Desk, pays or credits the amount by rule, and writes the claim and the payment to the CIS and billing.
In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: chase and verify, decide, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The claim form was a PDF the customer had to print, and the receipts for the insulin were in the trash with the insulin.
After a multi-day outage, some commissions require the utility to reimburse spoiled food and prescription medicine up to a cap, within a window, with an itemized list or receipts. The utility posts a PDF; the customer prints it, lists the freezer's contents from memory, mails it, and hears nothing. Claims are paid late or denied for a missing receipt the rule did not require.
The rule is specific: the qualifying outage (duration and cause, with major storm exclusions in some states and inclusions in others), the eligible customers, the claim window, the cap per claim, the proof accepted (an itemized list for smaller amounts, receipts above a threshold), and the payment method. The outage record proves the qualification; the customer only has to say what was lost.
A claim the customer can file from their phone in the window, checked by rule, is paid in days.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
A customer requests a spoilage claim after an outage, or the utility invites claims after a qualifying event. Callvu opens the claim on the account.
- Customer
- Lists the items or uploads receipts and photos on their phone, and chooses the payment method.
- Claims desk
- Decides claims above the cap, outside the window or with disputed data in the Decision Desk.
- Callvu
- Prefills, classifies eligibility, chases, checks, routes, pays and writes.
Prefill and classify eligibility
The account, the premise and the interruption data (the duration, the cause, the event designation) are prefilled from the CIS and the outage management system; eligibility is classified by the commission's rule or the utility's program: the qualifying duration and cause, the customer class, the claim window from restoration, the cap, and the proof required at the amount claimed.
Chase and verify the proof
The customer enters the itemized list (the item, the quantity, the value) or uploads receipts and photos on their phone; each is read and checked against the categories (food, prescription medicine), the cap and the proof rule (a list suffices below the threshold, receipts or a pharmacy record above it); what is missing is chased within the window.
Decide
A claim within the rule is approved by rule at the itemized amount up to the cap; a claim above the cap, outside the window, with a disputed outage duration, a non-residential account where the rule excludes it, or a duplicate goes to the claims desk in the Decision Desk with the data and only the allowed outcomes (pay as itemized, pay up to the cap, request proof, or decline with the rule cited).
Write back
The payment or the bill credit is issued by the customer's chosen method, the claim with the items, the proof and the decision is written to the CIS, the system of record, and the credit to the billing system; the customer receives the confirmation, and the claims are reported to the commission with the event.
Where it ends: The customer filed from their phone inside the window, the outage record proved the qualification, the proof was checked by rule, and the claim was paid or credited with the decision recorded for the commission. The Decision Trace shows the eligibility classification and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the claim, the uploads and the payment with time.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
The utility's invitation after a qualifying event, or any channel; the customer files on their phone.
The back office
The claims desk decides only exceptions; payment and reporting run from the record.
The Decision Desk
- A claim above the cap, outside the window, with a disputed duration, an excluded class or a duplicate goes to the claims desk in the Decision Desk with the data and only pay as itemized, pay up to the cap, request proof, or decline with the rule cited.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.
Across Callvu customers
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
Who is eligible?
Customers whose outage meets the rule's duration and cause thresholds in the eligible class, classified from the outage record; the customer does not have to prove the outage.
Are receipts required?
Only where the rule requires them above its threshold; below it an itemized list suffices, and photos are accepted where the rule allows.
How is the claim paid?
By the customer's chosen method or as a bill credit, within the rule's period, with the claim recorded for the commission's report.
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