How do I enter annual or monthly usage information?

Owned by Evelyn Fisher (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 15, 2021 by Tim Marchese
3 min read

The annual usage sections allows you to update the annual bill and usage profile for your project on an annual or monthly basis. 

You can use this section to enter project-specific usage information based on what you have available from a utility bill or homeowner estimate. You can also use the typical usage, which is defaulted based on the address entered.

Total annual usage and total annual cost are shown up top. Energy usage and utility bill costs for each month of the year are shown in the chart and the values below.

Usage profile

Annual usage shows the following key information and inputs:

  • Usage profile chart: the annual usage profile chart shows typical usage based on the address entered and can be updated using any of the "Edit usage by" options. If you have updated values or added proposed post-project usage additions, the chart will show these values.
  • Usage profile values: the monthly values for historical usage (kWh) and historical cost ($). These match what is shown in the chart and can be updated using any of the "Edit usage by" options.

Editing usage

To edit usage, you can modify the values shown below the chart. The "Edit usage by" dropdown allows you to select the way you want to enter usage information: as usage (kWh) or a bill cost ($) and as monthly values or a single annual value. Monthly values allow you to input 1 to 12 months of values depending on how much information you have available.

You have the following usage input/edit options:  

  • Monthly usage - This will let you adjust the top row of inputs "Historical Usage (kWh)" by month
  • Monthly bill - This will let you adjust the bottom row of inputs "Historical Cost ($)" by month
  • Annual usage - This will let you adjust only the usage total for the year
  • Annual bill - This will let you adjust only the cost total for the year
  • Full input - This will let you adjust any of the cells in the usage chart
  • CSV Upload - This will let you upload a CSV file with usage data
    • We can accept data in 15-minute or hourly intervals

Before edits or other inputs, the chart shows a typical usage profile based on the address entered. A utility bill or estimate from the homeowner is often used at some point during the sales process to update this section. Depending on the input option selected, the usage profile will adjust accordingly. 

The following example shows how annual usage was adjusted given two input months. Input values appear in blue. Click Apply Changes to save changes and run usage estimation for the months that are not entered.

As you can see, since the inputs for September and October were lower than the typical usage, once hit Apply Changes, the tool extrapolated the data to adjust it for the rest of the year. If you ever want to undo the changes, you can always select Reset To Typical.

Usage estimation

If less than twelve months of values are entered, the rest of the usage values are estimated (extrapolated) by comparing the one or more entered values to the typical values for those months, and adjusting the rest of the monthly values accordingly.

Extrapolation is always based on usage values rather than cost, e.g. if you enter a bill, the rate schedule is used to calculate usage, and this usage value is used to extrapolate the rest of the monthly usage values.

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