Create a Utility
Utility is a generic term referring to any type of metered service, for example:
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Steam Heat
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Water
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Natural Gas
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Electricity
The Create Utility page is used to create a variety of utility entities — utilities, utility systems, utility meter sites, and meters.
To access the Create Utility page:
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Access the Utility module by clicking the Utility link at the top of the page.
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Click the Create tab.
The Create Utility page opens.
Create a Utility
To create a new utility:
- In the Choose a Utility item field, select Utility.
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In the Utility Name field, enter a name for the utility.
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In the Status field, select the status of the utility.
Status values are configurable for each installation. However, the status might indicate whether the utility was active or inactive.
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In the Description field, enter a description of the utility.
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In the Unit of Measure field, select the unit of measure that applies to the utility.
For example, a utility of electricity might be measured in kWh (Kilowatt-hour).
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In the BTU Factor field, enter a value if the utility is natural gas.
BTU (British Thermal Unit) per hour is a unit for measuring the heating value of natural gas.
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In the Charge Rate field, enter a rate to determine costs per billing period.
Charge rate times consumption equals cost. The charge rate on a utility can be used as a bottom-level cost factor. Costs are calculated using the meter site rate, but if there is no rate specified on the meter site, this rate will be used. If no rate is specified for either the utility or the meter site, the cost will be 0. The rate can also be overwritten on the invoice, if the invoices are generated against the meter site.
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In the Minimum Billing Amount field, enter the minimum amount that will be billed for this utility.
The amount entered will be charged for every billing period of this utility, even if the actual usage amounts to less than the minimum billing amount. Utility usage that costs more than the minimum billing amount will be charged for the actual usage amount.
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In the Comments field, enter any required comments about the utility.
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In the Billing Period Start Date field, enter the date on which the billing period begins.
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If NPFA (Non-Profit Fund Accounting) is enabled for this installation, an Accounts pane appears, allowing you to select the accounts to associate with this utility.
To specify an account:
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Expand the Accounts pane.
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Click the Add Another Account Group link.
The Accounts pane expands to display the account definition options.
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In the Account Group field, select the type of accounts you want to add.
An account group defines the type and format of the account strings that you can define to classify revenues and expenses for this entity.
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In the Billing Type field, select the type of billing you want to use for this entity.
The billing type defines whether actual costs, estimated costs, or no costs will be used when billing for this entity. It also determines the percentage of markup applied to charges.
Note:Depending on the configuration of the account group selected, the Billing Type drop-down menu may be disabled.
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Configure the accounts you want to associate with this entity.
You can associate one or more accounts.
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Click the Add New Link.
The Add Account String dialog box opens.
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In the Chart of Accounts field, select the chart of accounts that contains the account strings you want to add.
Note:Depending on the configuration of the account group selected, the Chart of Accounts drop-down menu may not appear. If it is not displayed, the default chart of accounts will be used.
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In the Account Index field, select the account index containing the segment values that you want to use to populate the segment fields.
An account index provides a named shortcut for populating the segment values. If you select an index, values will automatically fill-in for all of the segments. You can manually override a particular segment value, if needed.
Note:Depending on the configuration of the account group selected, the Account Index drop-down menu may not appear. If it is not displayed, you can manually enter segment values in the fields.
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Enter a value for each segment.
If you used an account index, these fields are automatically populated for you. You can modify them, if needed.
As you click into each field, a list of valid values may appear in a drop-down menu. You can pick a value from the list instead of typing a value. Some account groups may not have this feature enabled.
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Click ADD.
The account string and the Percentage of the costs that will be allocated to this account string are displayed. You can add additional account strings, if needed and modify the percentage values to allocate the costs appropriately. All account string percentages must add up to 100%.
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Click OK to save the account configuration.
You can add another account group, if needed. For example, some installations define separate account groups for different billing types.
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Click SUBMIT to create the new utility.
To clear the fields and start over, click RESET.
Create a Utility System
A Utility System is a segment of a utility in a specific location (associated with a region) that contains a collection of meter sites. You can have as few as one system per utility or many systems for each utility.
To create a new utility system:
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In the Choose a Utility item field, select Utility System.
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In the Utility System Name field, enter a name for the utility system.
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In the Status field, select the status of the utility system.
Status values are configurable for each installation. However, the status might indicate whether the utility system was active or inactive.
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In the Utility field, select the type of utility that this system tracks.
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In the Metered Option field, select a value.
- Fully Metered – Select this value if the utility system will have meter sites to capture all consumption within the system. A fully metered system needs one Production Meter site and one Consumption Meter Site.
- Partially Metered – Select this value if the utility system does not have meter sites capturing the consumption for the entire system. A partially metered system requires at least one Production Meter Site, one Consumption Meter Site, and one Virtual Meter Site. The Virtual Meter Site will capture the consumption that is not being measured/captured.
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In the Description field, enter a description of the utility system.
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In the Charge Rate field, enter a charge rate for the utility system.
This is the amount charged per utility unit for a billing period, if the Calculate from Rate option is set to Yes in the associated meter site's Allocation settings
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In the Minimum Billing Amount field, enter the minimum amount that will be billed for this utility system.
The amount entered will be charged for every billing period of this utility system, even if the actual usage amounts to less than the minimum billing amount. Consumption for the utility system that costs more than the minimum billing amount will be charged for the actual usage amount.
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In the Line Loss % field, enter an estimate of the utility system's production that is lost.
For example, a fully metered utility system may have produced 1,000 kilowatts of electricity within a billing period, but only 950 kilowatts were used. The other 50 kilowatts were lost due to heating in wires. The 950 kilowatts used divided by the 1,000 kilowatts produced would equate to a 5 percent line loss percentage.
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Click the Region Select link to specify the region the utility system belongs to.
A utility system cannot be associated to more than one region, but a region can be associated to multiple utility systems.
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In the Billing Period Start Date field, enter the date on which the billing period begins.
If a date is not selected, the system will use the billing period start date set at the utility level.
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In the Comments field, enter any required comments about the utility system.
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Click SUBMIT to create the new Utility System.
To clear the fields and start over, click RESET.
Create a Utility Meter Site
A utility meter site specifies the physical location of a meter and contains information needed to perform billing calculations for the meter (which is created as an asset). Within each utility system, there may be consumption, production, deduct, and/or virtual, meter sites. A production meter site and consumption meter site are required for each system.
For example, if a single utility system, such as electricity, is providing power to an entire university, a meter site could be associated with each building. When the university is billed for electricity, these meter sites allow the university to divide the bill and allocate portions to the different departments using the building.
To create a utility meter site:
- In the Choose a Utility item field, select Utility Meter Site.
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In the Meter Site Name field, enter a name for the meter site.
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In the Status field, select the status of the utility system.
Status values are configurable for each installation. However, the status might indicate whether the utility system was active or inactive.
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In the Meter Site Type field, select the type of meter site.
Meter site types are configurable, however the following meter site types might be defined:
- Production – a meter site that measures the production
- Deduct – a meter site that captures excess production readings in a system
- Consumption – a meter site that measures the consumption or usage of the energy source
- Production/Consumption – a meter site that measures both production and consumption
- Virtual – a meter site that captures the remaining consumption for a partially metered utility system
For each production meter site within a system, there must be at least one consumption meter site.
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In the Meter Site On field, select On or Off to indicate whether readings from the meter site will be included in billing calculations.
You may want to set a meter site to No for redundant meter sites that are used to validate readings.
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In the Utility field, select the type of utility this meter site measures.
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In the From/To Meter Site field, select a value.
This value is only used when the meter site is a child meter site to a parent meter site. Only Consumption meter sites not available for invoices should be allowed to have a parent/child relationship. This will be critical in determining Total System Consumption.
On the View Utility Systempage, parent/child meter sites display in a hierarchical format, allowing you easily to find total consumption for a set of related meter sites or to discover line loss errors.
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Select an existing Utility System to associate with the meter site.
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Enter a value for the Meter Site Level.
If you are creating parent/child relationships among meter sites, you can use this field to represent the place of this meter in the hierarchy. This can be useful for determining utility distribution among a system's meter sites.
For example, if an electricity invoice comes in for a company with 20 buildings, then the invoice is applied to a production meter site. The utility has a single system (Electricity System), one production meter (Elect-PO1), and four consumption meters at three different levels: (Elect-CO1, Elect-CO1.1, Elect-CO1.2, and Elect-CO1.2.1). If the production meter site Elect-PO1 reads 10,000 kWH, then the first-level consumption meter site Elect-CO1 must equal 10,000 kWH. This also means that the two first level sub-meters, Elect-CO1.1 and Elect CO1.2, must add up to 10,000 kWH. If Elect-CO1.1 reads 7,000 kWH, then Elect CO1.2 and its sub-meter Elect CO1.2.1 must read 3,000 kWH each.
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In the Meter Site Description field, enter a description of the meter site.
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In the Associate Meter Site field, select a meter site from a list of existing meter sites within the same utility system to associate this meter site with.
Choosing an associate meter site indicates that one serves as a duplicate record of the other.
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In the Meter Site Group field, select an existing meter site group to associate this meter site with.
This value can be used to group meter sites from multiple systems for analytical purposes on a report.
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In the Group Order Number field, enter an order number for this meter site.
If a Meter Site Group is chosen, a group order number is required. This value indicates the order in which the meter site should be read within the meter site group
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The Current Charge Rate field is read-only and indicates the current charge rate for the meter site.
This value is determined by a hierarchy if the Calculate from Rate option is set to Yes in the meter site's Allocation settings. The rate will be pulled from the meter site, if it exists. If not, the system will look to the rate set at the utility system, then to the utility.
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In the Calc. Costs Using Rate field, select a value.
If set to Yes, utility charges will be based on the charge rate. If set to No, the rate will not be used and the system assumes a rate of 0. The rate will be pulled from the invoice.
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Select an Initial Read Date.
This is the date on which the first reading is entered for the meter site.
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Enter an Override Charge Rate if you would like the meter site to be charged at a rate that is different than its utility system's charge rate.
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In the Comments field, enter any additional information about the meter site.
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Enter Location Information.
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Property – the property to which the meter site belongs
- Floor – the floor the meter site is associated with
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Space – the space within the property to which the meter site belongs
- Sub Space – the subSpace within the property to which the meter site belongs
- Directions – directions to help a technician locate the meter site
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Special Instructions – any special information that applies to the meter site; for example, technicians may need to be instructed to bring a ladder because the meter is located 15 feet above the ground
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Enter Meter Site Estimate information to let the meter reader know what type of reading to expect at a meter site.
These fields may be defined, for example, if you have a contract with the users at the meter site to indicate that they will be billed, on a recurring basis, for a fixed amount of consumption, regardless of the amount they use.
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Estimate Code – the code that indicates the quality of the meter site reading (for example, Good or Estimated)
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Active – indicates whether the estimate code is active or not for the meter site
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Comments – any comments about the meter site estimate
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Consumption – the estimated consumption that will be billed for the meter site
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Click SUBMIT to add the meter site.
To clear the fields and start over, click RESET.
Create a Meter
Meters are physical devices attached or associated to meter sites. Since meters are tracked as assets within the system, they are created on the Create Asset page.
To open the Create Asset page to create a meter do either of the following:
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Access the Utility module by clicking the Utility link at the top of the page.
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Select the Create tab and then, In the Choose a Utility itemfield, select Meter.
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If you have the Asset module, access it by clicking the Asset link.
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Click the Create Asset tab.
Once you have opened the Create Asset page, continue with the following steps:
- In the Asset Name field, enter a name for the meter.
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In the Asset # field, enter a unique asset number for the meter.
The asset number must be unique within the property. If Auto Generate is displayed in this field, the system will automatically generate a unique asset number.
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In the Serial # field, enter the meter's serial number.
This field is required. If you do not know the serial number, you can enter a generic value, such as NA. Serial numbers do not need to be unique.
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In the Asset Class field, select Meter.
If you select the Meter asset class, the Meter Information pane appears at the bottom of the page.
- In the Asset Rank field, select the relative importance of the meter (for example, Critical or Standard).
- In the Manufacturer field, enter the name of the name of the company that makes the meter.
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In the Model field, enter the model name/number of the asset.
If the Manufacture and Model for this asset are not listed, you can click the ADD link to add new manufacturers and models to the system
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In the Asset Status field, select the status of the meter (for example, In-Service or Emergency Use only).
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Scroll down to the Meter Information pane and enter the following information about the meter:
- Unit Multiplier – the multiplier value that allows the meter reading to be converted to another unit for consumption and billing calculations
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Meter Multiplier – the multiplier value used for calculating actual voltage/current
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Meter Format – the format of the maximum meter reading, which is used for determining rollover
- Unit of Measure – the unit of measure that applies to the meter, for example, a meter that measures electricity consumption might be measured in kWh (Kilowatt-hour).
- Utility – the utility type (for example, natural gas, water, or electricity)
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Last Calibration Date – the date when the meter was last calibrated for accurate readings
- Click OK.