Sustainability & Risk / Energy / Background Data - Utilities
Managing Background Data: Utilities
Using the Background Data task, the Business Process Owner for Utilities can perform the following tasks used by the Energy application:
- Define Bill Types. By default, the application provides the electrical, gas, Gas - Natural, Gas - Propane, fuel oil 1, fuel oil 2, and water, and sewer bill types. Use the Define Bill Types task to define additional bill types as needed.
Note: You are free to use different bill types for tracking various utilities and may define new bill types and enter bill data accordingly. However, for weather model calculations, the bill's bill type and the building’s (bl table record) heating or cooling utility type must be Electricity, Gas, Fuel 1, Fuel 2, Propane, or Water. These are the only utility types recognized by the out-of the-box code. If you add other bill types, be aware that you would need to modify the code to perform weather model calculations.
- Define Bill Units. Define each specific type of unit that will be tracked on a utility bill. The Bill Units are a critical part of the Energy application as they require you to define how each unit rolls up to the reporting categories of energy / consumption, power / demand, and volume.
Note: The weather model regression analysis requires bills that have bill units that roll up to energy / consumption.
- Define Meters and Linking Them to Vendor Accounts. By entering your meters into the system and linking them to vendor's meters, you are able to compare measured values coming from your internal meters to the quantity the vendor is billing you for.
- Process Meter Readings. If you want to have the application calculate consumption for meter data, you can input data manually or using data transfer. You can then use the application to process the data. For a description o the process, see Inputting and Processing Meter Readings.
- Configure Bill Processing. Set the application parameters that control the checks that are done when you approve or archive bills.
- Define Bill Connector Associations. The business process owner associates a connector with a bill type and vendor. This enables the system to associate the right connector with the right electronic bill file.
- Define Building Groups for Proration. Add buildings to building proration groups that are defined for vendor accounts. These are groups o buildings for which the vendor sends one bill.
- Edit Archived Bills. Archived bills provide the data used in reports. To keep your reports accurate, if you need to make an adjustment to a bill, you can unarchive the bill to correct it.
If you want to use the Archibus Connectors to load your energy bill data, see Loading Energy Bills Using the Connectors: Overview.
Examples of bill types and units and their conversion factors
The Define Bill Units task enables you to define each specific type of unit that will be tracked on a utility bill. The Bill Units are a critical part of the Energy application as they require you to define how each unit rolls up to the following reporting categories:
- Energy / Consumption (MMBTU)
- Power / Demand (kW)
- Volume (CCF)
Note: From the Thematic Energy Map, the Utility Bill Metrics, and the Measurement & Verification reports, you can select to show consumption either as kWh or MMBTU. However, be aware that these selections affect only consumption; demand is always expressed as kW, and volume is always expressed as CCF.
If the billing unit is one of the common units (MMBTU for energy / consumption, kW for Power / Demand, or CCF for Volume), their conversion factor is 1.0. For other units, you must enter the conversion factor to convert the unit to the common unit.
The following are examples of the types of units and conversions typically seen in the energy industry.
| Bill Type | Billing Unit Type | Billing Units | Applied to this type of energy for rollup | Common Unit | Conversion factor (billing units * conversion factor = common units) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electric | Energy | MMBTU | Consumption (MMBTU) |
MMBTU |
1.000000000000 |
| Electric | Energy |
kWh (kilowatt hours) |
Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU |
0.003412000000 |
| Natural Gas | Energy | Therms | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU |
0.1000 |
| Natural Gas | Energy |
BTU (British thermal units) |
Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 0.000001000000 |
| GAS - PROPANE | Energy | Gallons | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 0.09133 |
| GAS - PROPANE | Energy | CCF | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 0.2516 |
| GAS - PROPANE | Energy | BTU | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 0.000001 |
| GAS - PROPANE | Energy | MMBTU | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 1.000000 |
| Fuel Oil 1 | Energy | MMBTU | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 1.000000 |
| Fuel Oil 1 | Energy | BTU | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 0.000001 |
| Fuel Oil 1 | Energy | Gallons | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 0.135 |
| Fuel Oil 1 | Energy | Barrels (US Liquid) | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 5.67 |
| Fuel Oil 2 | Energy | MMBTU | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 1.000000 |
| Fuel Oil 2 | Energy | BTU | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 0.000001 |
| Fuel Oil 2 | Energy | Gallons | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 0.138690 |
| Fuel Oil 2 | Energy | Barrels (US Liquid) | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU | 5.82498 |
| Electric | Power | kW (kilowatts) | Power / Demand (kW) | kW |
1.000000000000 |
| Natural Gas | Energy |
CCF (one hundred cubic feet) |
Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU |
0.1029000000000 |
|
Natural Gas |
Energy | M3 (cubic meter) | Consumption (MMBTU) | MMBTU |
0.0363387920343 |
| Water | Volume |
TGAL (one thousand gallons) |
Volume (CCF) | CCF |
0.748000000000 |
|
Water |
Volume | L (liter) | Volume (CCF) | CCF |
0.000353146667 |
| Water | Volume | M3 (cubic meter) | Volume (CCF) | CCF |
0.353146667000 |
Note: Natural Gas Conversion factors obtained via http://www.energystar.gov/buildings/sites/default/uploads/tools/QuickConverter.xls.
Precise equation of energy per volume depends, in part, on the chemical composition of the natural gas. Consult your provider for more information.
Step 1: Define Bill Types
The Define Bill Types task enables you to define each specific type of utility bill that will be entered into Archibus.
To add or edit a bill type:
- Select Sustainability & Risk / Energy / Background Data – Utilities / Define Bill Types.
The Define Bill Types form appears. All existing Bill Types appear in the Left panel.
- Click Add New to add a new bill type.
- Enter the following data:
Bill Type: Enter a unique identifier for this type of bill.
Cost Category: Select a utility cost category for the bill.
- Click Save.
Step 2: Define Bill Units
Procedure: Add or Edit a Bill Unit
To add or edit a Bill Unit:
- Select Sustainability & Risk / Energy / Background Data – Utilities / Define Bill Units.
The Define Bill Units form appears. All existing Bill Units appear in the left panel.
- From the Bill Types list, select the type of bill you want to add a unit for.
Any bill units defined for that bill type appear in the Bill Units panel.
- Click Add New to add a new Bill Unit.
- Enter the following data:
Bill Type: The list shows the bill type you selected, but, if needed, you can select a different bill type from the list.
Bill Unit: Enter the unit to be tracked for this bill.
Rollup Type: Select how this unit rolls up for reporting, such as Energy / Consumption (MMBTU), Power / Demand (kW, or Volume (CCF.)
Conversion Factor to Common Unit: The numeric value used to convert the bill unit to its common unit.
Note: It is critical to enter the Rollup Type and Conversion Factor to Common Unit. For example, kWh is a Bill Unit that rolls up to Energy / Consumption which is reported in MMBTU. You must enter the numeric value to convert kWh to MMBTU in the field titled “Conversion Factor to Common Unit”. For this example, the factor to convert kWh to MMBTU is 0.003412. If needed, there are sources on the Web to obtain Energy Units and their conversion factors.
Default?: Select “Yes” to indicate that this is the unit that is shown first in selection lists when users are entering line item data for bills. For consumption, it also determines if the application initially shows the report in MMBTU or kWh. The “Default” setting for other units will not change the display in the report. For example, Power demand is always expressed as kW, and volume is always expressed as CCF.
Only one unit per bill type can be specified as the default. If you select “Yes” for the currently displayed unit, any other unit that was specified as the default will automatically be set to “No”. In addition, you must designate one unit as the default or the system will not correctly display your results.Note: If the default unit is different from the common units for a bill type, you may see small differences between the displayed unit value and the entered value. For example, in an energy bill where the common units are MMBTU and the default units are set to kWh, if you enter consumption information in increments less than 0.5 kWh for the bill line quantity, the displayed value in kWh may be off by 1/10,000 kWh due to the rounding that occurs when the entered value is converted to the common units (MMBTU), and the common units are converted back to the display units (KWH).
Description: Enter a description that helps to identify this bill unit.
- Click Save.