Module 1 - Energy Accounting > Accounts & Invoices Tab

The Tariff Components tab is used to define Tariff Components, the various items that appear on utility invoices and enter into invoice calculations.

Because there is an extremely wide variety of billing tariffs being used in both traditional and restructure markets, this feature is designed to be very flexible. Most users will be able to set up simple tariffs, but complex tariffs require some background in utility rate structures, and would normally be defined by a trained energy analyst.

There are two types of tariff components:

Tariff Component Type	Description
Meter Components	Utility consumption, demand, or other physical unit values applicable during a given period. For example 55 kW or 14,550 kWh.
Meter Components	Provide the values for utility Baseline Modeling.
User-Defined Components	Constant values that are used to calculate costs, including service charges, consumption unit cost, demand unit cost, debt reduction rates, other rates.
	Formulas used to generate intermediate values based on other components, often corresponding to invoice line items.
	A formula which uses other component values to create the final invoice total. At minimum, a single Final Total component is required to report on utility costing and to import invoice data electronically.
	Can include (but not limited to) total costs for the period, breakdown of tiered consumption costs, total consumption cost, individual taxes, total taxes, debt retirement charges, and so on.
	Can be used to confirm visually that components and totals on the invoice match the values calculated by ManagingEnergy .

Meter Components belong to Reading Groups and are listed together at the top of the Tariff Component list.

Reading Groups

Reading groups are used to differentiate Meter Readings among multiple meters under the same Tariff. Each Tariff must have at least one Reading Group. Multiple Reading Groups come into play where a utility company is consolidating the invoicing for more than one meter under a single account. This could also be two or more meters of the same utility type especially those with consumption and demand readings, but is more often separate meters for different utilities (e.g. electricity and water).

In ManagingEnergy there will be a reading group for each meter in a tariff definition.

Some Utility Providers offer an auxiliary Managed Service to other providers (e.g. municipalities, commodity retailers or equipment rental companies) to take care of the invoicing function on their behalf. The economies of scale make good business sense. More than one meter can be read on each visit to each site and consolidation of invoices means savings in paper, postage, and staff time.

Reading Groups are listed below the Tariff Components List. When components are associated with Reading Groups, they become Meter Components and appear at the top of the Tariff Components List.

Example 1

Springfield Gas supplies only natural gas. The only Reading Group contains a single reading for gas consumption in CF.

Example 2

Springfield Utilities supplies electricity and water. One reading group contains readings for kWh, kW, and Power Factor for electricity. The second reading group contains a single reading in thousands of gallons for water.

Changes to Tariff definitions do not affect existing invoice records. All tariff component values (readings, constant values, formula results) are stored with each invoice record.

Once a reading group has been associated with a meter, it is no longer shown in the drop down to ensure there aren't two meters obtaining the same readings from the same invoice. A reading group that is referenced by a tariff component cannot be deleted.