Why are my PSE&G electric payments labeled as “Patel Brother’s LLC”?

All company utility credentials and sites are already enrolled in the Engie Insight platform, may we enroll with Arcadia by granting access to the Engie Insight portal or must we submit individual credential access for each distinct utility and property?

Why can't Arcadia process a PDF that contains all 12 invoices of my history combined?

What happens if I upload a bill from my landlord instead of the utility?

Observations

To ensure high-fidelity data extraction, Arcadia's processing engine requires a clear 1:1 relationship between a digital file and a utility statement. Challenges arise when the "unit of work" is compromised by either the file structure or the origin of the data.

Statement Chains

In some scenarios, customers attempt to pass a single PDF "chain" that contains multiple separate utility bills. This is more common for high-volume customers that combine multiple invoices (different accounts, providers, or months) into a single PDF. These "statement chains" conflict with Arcadia's data model, which requires one file to map to exactly one invoice.

Indirect Sources

Data does not always come directly from a utility provider. Sometimes customers are not capable of presenting their utility expenses and invoices directly. This could be due to corporate infrastructure, lease arrangements, or contractual obligations.

The most prevalent case involves business enterprises leasing property where they operate. Under these arrangements, the lessee receives utility expense invoices from the property manager, not from the regional utility. Alternatively, customers or service partners sometimes enroll via a third-party utility bill management (UBM) platform, placing a vendor between Arcadia and the customer's utility data sources. Documents originating from any of these intermediaries (such as landlords, sub-metering companies, or third-party bill-pay platforms) are considered Indirect Sources.

These sources often lack the standardized metadata found on official utility invoices, and direct utility connections remain the gold standard for data accuracy and SLA compliance.

Policy

Arcadia enforces strict guidelines on file composition and source attribution to maintain data quality and satisfy Service Level Agreements (SLAs):

• One file, one invoice. Every unique source file must contain exactly one utility provider and one invoice. Arcadia does not support statement chains. If a customer receives a combined statement chain, that chain must be split into individual invoices before uploading. This is especially critical when utilizing the Files Module.
• Indirect sources are attributed to the intermediate provider. When a customer receives a tenant utility invoice or data from a third-party platform rather than a direct utility bill, the recognized provider is the landlord, property manager, or data platform - not the underlying regional utility. This maintains honesty in the data model: the "provider" of the bill was not the utility in this case.
• Indirect sources may be exempt from standard SLAs. Because indirect sources often provide incomplete or non-standardized data, they are modeled differently and may not meet standard data quality or processing SLA commitments.
• Customers must explicitly identify indirect sources. During onboarding and upload, indirect sources must be identified and separated from direct utility data.
• Bypassing intermediaries is always preferred. When a pre-existing vendor relationship can be bypassed to allow direct integration with the regional utility, there are no negative impacts on data integrity. Indirect status is only imposed when the original utility e-bill cannot be accessed directly.

Indirect Sources Standard

Data acquisition and extraction depend upon the integrity of the data source. Arcadia's integrations are built upon official, billing-grade documents. Whenever access to the regional utility is impeded, data integrity is equally impeded.

Provider Identity

When a customer receives an indirect invoice instead of the official utility bill, the recognized provider in the Arcadia data model is the intermediary, and not the regional utility responsible for the point of delivery.

Landlord / Tenant Example: A customer whose business is located in a mixed-use Los Angeles property receives an electric billing invoice from "Golden Coast Realty" rather than from LADWP directly. The electric service from LADWP is associated with Golden Coast Realty, which prorates and distributes charges to its tenants. When Arcadia processes these documents, the tenant electric accounts are attributed to Golden Coast Realty as INDIRECT sources. They are not considered LADWP accounts or invoices. For purposes of carbon accounting, customers needing to attribute this statement to LADWP's service territory would need to apply custom data attributes to the relevant site or meter.

Third-Party Platform Example: A customer whose accounts have been onboarded by granting Arcadia access to "OneSource Utility Expense Platform" rather than via direct utility credentials. If Arcadia is able to acquire the full, original, official e-bill exactly as published by the utility through that platform, no indirect status is imposed. However, when the platform presents a reinterpretation of the original (such as a bitmap rendering, HTML version, JSON export, or other derived format) the source is considered INDIRECT. In that case, the enrolled accounts are attributed to OneSource as the provider and are not considered LADWP accounts. Again, custom data attributes can be applied for carbon accounting attribution. For these reasons, Arcadia strongly encourages all partners and customers to grant direct utility credentials or file access to full, official e-bill documents during enrollment.

FAQs

Why can't Arcadia process a PDF that contains all 12 months of my history combined?

Our templates are engineered to map a single billing period to a single statement object. A "chain" of 12 months in one file creates mapping conflicts that prevent automated extraction. The file must be split into individual PDFs - one per invoice period.

My landlord shares the original LADWP e-bill with my AP group and then performs a simple mark-up requesting we pay 25% of the total amount due. Is this still considered an indirect source?

Yes. The provider will be designated as the landlord, not LADWP. For Arcadia to process an original utility e-bill as a direct source, it must be processed completely and without any secondary mark-up, attachments, or business rule interpretations applied.

My business uses a utility bill management (UBM) platform. The vendor assures us they preserve original e-bills as PDFs, but in certain situations (late bills, re-bills, unknown formats) they present an estimated or HTML version. Will these accounts be considered indirect?

If the original, complete e-bill was confirmed as the source at enrollment, that account will not be considered indirect. However, as soon as Arcadia detects an alternate format, that source will be rejected or reclassified as an indirect source attributed to the UBM. The account may then need to be re-provisioned, as it would now be associated with both the utility and the UBM as separate provider sources.

Who should I talk to if I have a large volume of indirect source data?

We recommend working directly with your Customer Success (CS) and Account Management (AM) contacts. They can help determine the best modeling approach for non-standard sources.

How do I handle a third-party bill-pay summary document?

Summary documents from third-party providers are treated as indirect sources. Because they often aggregate data or omit line-item details, they may not meet data completeness requirements for advanced analytics. Please work with your CSM to determine the appropriate handling.

Conclusion

The integrity of the source document is the foundation of the Arcadia data model. Two categories of non-standard sources - statement chains and indirect invoices - each introduce distinct challenges that require careful handling during onboarding and upload.

Statement chains must be split into individual invoices before processing. Indirect sources, whether originating from landlords, sub-metering companies, or third-party data platforms, must be explicitly identified and will be attributed to the intermediate provider rather than the underlying utility. While indirect source handling provides a necessary bridge for certain sites and business structures, maintaining direct utility connections remains the gold standard for data accuracy, completeness, and SLA compliance. Customers with significant indirect source portfolios are encouraged to work closely with their CS and AM contacts to develop an appropriate modeling strategy.