Observations

When modeling utility data from water providers, Arcadia often encounters invoices where multiple meters exist on a single bill, but the provider does not explicitly specify the distinct service type for each meter (e.g., Irrigation, Domestic Water, or Fire Protection).

Without granular, meter-level service labels in the source data, it is impossible for our data model to programmatically differentiate between these distinct services. This leads to scenarios where multiple water-based services could be mislabeled due to a lack of provider transparency.

Historically, various methods were trialed to "virtualize" meters based on charge blocks. However, based on recent architectural consensus, Arcadia has moved away from meter virtualization in favor of a model that honors the physical meter while accepting service-type limitations.

Policy

To maintain data integrity and ensure compatibility with our internal Proration and Inference (P&I) framework, Arcadia adheres to the following policy:

Physical Meter Honoring: Arcadia accepts and extracts the physical meters as given on the invoice.

Service Type Collapsing: When service type ambiguity exists, Arcadia resolves the conflict by collapsing all meters to a single default service type (typically Water). All usages and charges are attributed to the default service. Sub-services such as Sewer or Irrigation are effectively suppressed at the meter level.

Proration Priority: By forcing indeterminate meters to a single default service type, Arcadia’s P&I infrastructure can successfully execute standard proportional push-downs of account-level usages. This ensures that total account consumption is correctly distributed, even if specific sub-service granularity is lost.

Avoidance of Virtualization: Arcadia will not build "virtual meters" derived from charge structures. This prevents reliability issues where usage data becomes absent or disconnected from physical meter reads.

Customer-Side Reassignment: Customers requiring disaggregated consumption data (e.g., for specific ESG reporting) should be prepared to handle and reassign these values within their own systems based on known site attributes.

FAQs

Why doesn't Arcadia create separate meters for the different charges on my bill?

Creating "virtual" meters from charges often leads to unreliable usage data and breaks the logic required for automated proration. To ensure total consumption is accurate, we prioritize the physical meter structure over virtualized service types.

Why is my irrigation usage showing up as "Water"?

If the provider does not explicitly label the meter as "Irrigation" in the source data, our model defaults the service type to "Water."

Will I lose usage data because of this mapping?

No. Total account-level usage is preserved and pushed down to the meters. However, the granularity of that usage (knowing exactly how many gallons were for irrigation vs. domestic use) is sacrificed in favor of overall data integrity when provider data is ambiguous.

Conclusion

The current Arcadia data model prioritizes physical meter integrity and reliable usage proration. By collapsing indeterminate water services into a default "Water" type, we provide a stable framework for account-level data even when utility providers offer low-quality or ambiguous source documents. While this results in a known limitation regarding sub-service granularity, it ensures the most accurate reflection of total consumption and costs across the platform.