Step 2: Calculate Electricity Costs

Create or update the actual electricity usage profile, then calculate actual bill costs for each billing period.

Electricity cost workflow

Create an actual electricity usage profile for the account.
Use actual-savings-example-electricity as the providerProfileId for the actual electricity profile.
Periodically add new readings to the profile as new usage data becomes available.
Run an Account Cost Calculation for each billing period.
Save the calculated actual bill cost for use in Step 4.

Create an electricity profile for actual usage

Create the electricity profile that will contain the customer's electricity usage data, typically in kWh. For the best accuracy, use utility revenue-grade meter interval data. If you don't have access to this data, use sub-meter data or billing consumption data. If you don't have access to any actual electricity usage data, contact us to discuss options for estimating usage.

Example 1: Electricity profile with monthly readings

Use this example to add a new electricity profile to the account. In this example, we have included a year's worth of actual monthly readings, presumably from bills. For the best results, use hourly or smaller meter data.

POST /rest/v1/profiles

{  
  "providerAccountId" : "actual-savings-example",  
  "providerProfileId" : "actual-savings-example-electricity",  
  "profileName" : "Actual Electricity Usage",  
  "isDefault" : true,  
  "serviceTypes" : "ELECTRICITY",  
  "sourceId" : "ReadingEntry",  
  "readingData" : [  
      { "fromDateTime" : "2015-06-19T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "-438",  
        "toDateTime" : "2015-07-20T00:00-0700"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2015-07-20T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "-368",  
        "toDateTime" : "2015-08-19T00:00-0700"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2015-08-19T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "-79",  
        "toDateTime" : "2015-09-20T00:00-0700"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2015-09-20T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "180",  
        "toDateTime" : "2015-10-19T00:00-0700"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2015-10-19T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "705",  
        "toDateTime" : "2015-11-18T00:00-0800"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2015-11-18T00:00-0800",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "959",  
        "toDateTime" : "2015-12-17T00:00-0800"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2015-12-17T00:00-0800",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "1182",  
        "toDateTime" : "2016-01-19T00:00-0800"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2016-01-19T00:00-0800",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "895",  
        "toDateTime" : "2016-02-18T00:00-0800"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2016-02-18T00:00-0800",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "973",  
        "toDateTime" : "2016-03-20T00:00-0700"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2016-03-20T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "-49",  
        "toDateTime" : "2016-04-19T00:00-0700"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2016-04-19T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "-220",  
        "toDateTime" : "2016-05-18T00:00-0700"  
      },{ "fromDateTime" : "2016-05-18T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "quantityValue" : "-492",  
        "toDateTime" : "2016-06-19T00:00-0700"  
      }  
    ]  
}

For more information, read Upsert Monthly Electricity Readings Profile.

Example 2: Electricity profile with import and export readings

When a customer has dual register meters, you can upload an electricity profile with import and export readings. Use "importQuantityValue" and "exportQuantityValue" for the kWh values when the meter is importing and exporting. For the best results, use hourly or smaller meter data. If a value is not specified, it is assumed to be 0 for the reading.

You will use this electricity profile with import and export readings to calculate the actual bill cost. However, you will need to create a separate electricity profile with net values of the import and export readings to use when you calculate what the bill would have been without solar production. See the first example above, or read our documentation on how to add an electricity readings profile without import and export readings.

POST /rest/v1/profiles

{  
  "providerAccountId" : "actual-savings-example",  
  "providerProfileId" : "actual-savings-example-electricity",  
  "profileName" : "Dual Register Meter Profile",  
  "isDefault" : true,  
  "serviceTypes" : "ELECTRICITY",  
  "sourceId" : "ReadingEntry",  
  "readingData" : [  
      { "fromDateTime" : "2015-06-19T00:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "importQuantityValue" : "1.41746",  
        "toDateTime" : "2015-06-19T01:00-0700"  
      },  
      { "fromDateTime" : "2015-06-19T01:00-0700",  
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
        "importQuantityValue" : "1.412371",  
        "exportQuantityValue" : "0",  
        "toDateTime" : "2015-06-19T02:00-0700"  
      },
      { "fromDateTime" : "2015-06-19T08:00-0700",
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",
        "importQuantityValue" : "1.382745",
        "exportQuantityValue" : "1.035186",
        "toDateTime" : "2015-06-19T09:00-0700"
      },
      { "fromDateTime" : "2015-06-19T09:00-0700",
        "quantityUnit" : "kWh",
        "exportQuantityValue" : "2.515777",
        "toDateTime" : "2015-06-19T10:00-0700"
      }
  ]
}

Periodically update the electricity profile with the latest usage

You only need to add a new profile for actual electricity usage one time. Then, periodically append new interval data to it, such as at the end of each day or month. Use this example request to add new readings to an existing electricity profile:

PUT /rest/v1/profiles/{profileId}/readings

{  
  "usageProfileId": "{profileId}",  
  "readings" : [ {  
    "fromDateTime" : "2016-06-19T00:00-0700",  
    "toDateTime" : "2016-07-19T00:00-0700",  
    "quantityUnit" : "kWh",  
    "quantityValue" : 235  
  } ]
}

Read Update Readings for more information.

Calculate the actual bill cost each month

Once you have loaded the actual electricity usage, you can calculate the actual bill cost for that billing period. Below is a sample request to calculate the actual bill cost for a billing period from 7/20/2015 to 8/19/2015. Set billingPeriod to true because this calculation is for one billing period. Doing so handles the proration of fixed and other billing period charges correctly. In this example, a usage profile is not passed in because the calculation uses the actual electricity usage profile you created above since it was flagged as the default profile.

POST /rest/v1/accounts/pid/actual-savings-example/calculate/

{  
   "fromDateTime":"2015-07-20T00:00-0700",  
   "toDateTime":"2015-08-19T00:00-0700",  
   "billingPeriod": true,  
   "minimums": false,  
   "groupBy":"MONTH",  
   "detailLevel":"CHARGE_TYPE"  
}

The calculated result includes:

/* edited for length */
     "summary": {  
        "ELECTRICITY": {  
          "kWh": -368,  
          "kW": 0  
        },  
        "subTotalCost": -61.68,  
        "taxCost": 0,  
        "totalCost": -61.68,  
        "adjustedTotalCost": -61.79,  
        "kWh": -368,  
        "kW": 0  
      }  
/* edited for length */

Read Account Cost Calculation for more information. You can also read Run an Account Cost Calculation to Match a Bill to learn how to match your customer's bill.

Summary

Previously, you set up a site with the correct tariff and other settings. In this step, you loaded electricity usage data into it and used that data to calculate the site's actual electricity costs.

Next, load solar production and calculate solar costs.