Energy History Module
The Energy History module is a component of the Bill Advisor interface that provides CSRs with a user-friendly, interactive view of a customer's energy use costs and trends over time. This information is displayed as a bar chart overlaid with a line chart of temperature data to show potential correlations between energy use and weather patterns. By default, the module displays cost or energy use data for the current bill period and up to the previous 12 bill periods, for a total 13-month historical view, depending on the availability of historical data for the customer. A toggle allows CSRs to switch to a table view of the information, if desired.
Fuel Selector: A selector at the top of the module shows which fuel type is being viewed (electricity or gas) and allows the CSR to switch to a different fuel, if applicable.
Service Point Selector: If a customer has multiple service points for a single fuel type, a service point selector is displayed above the graph. Customers can use this selector to view data associated with a different service point. (For example, a customer may have one electric service point for their home and a separate electric service point for an electric vehicle, shed, or pool.) Only the last four digits of the service point number are displayed.
There is currently not a way to specifically identify the purpose for which a service point is used. For example, a service will not be labeled as representing a customer's house, electric vehicle, shed, or pool. A customer should go to their energy bill for reference, since most energy bills will list the customer's full service point numbers.
Costs or Energy Use Selector: A selector above the module allows CSRs to switch between a costs view or energy use view of the data.
- Costs View: This view displays total dollar amounts for each bill in the data display. The dollar amounts are rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. Note that this view is only available at the monthly level. If a customer generated more energy than they consumed due to photovoltaic (PV) or solar power, then there are visual cues and messaging to show that the customer earned a bill credit.
- Energy Use View: This view displays total energy use amounts for each bill in the data display (kWh for kilowatt hours or thm for therms). If a customer generated more energy than they consumed due to PV or solar power, then there are visual cues and messaging to show that the customer sent energy back to the grid and therefore has a negative read.
View Selector: A selector above the data display allows CSRs to switch between a year view, bill view, and day view. The data shown varies depending on the view. Note that the bill and day views are only available for customers with interval data (also known as AMI data).
Date or Time Selector: Across the top of the module, the date range is shown. Arrow icons on either side of the date range allow CSRs to navigate through historical data for periods other than the most recent.
Graph or Table Selector: A selector above the module allows CSRs switch to between a graph view and a table view of the customer's energy use trends. The graph view is selected by default, but the module can be configured so that the table view is selected by default.
- Graph View (Default): The graph view shows a bar chart of the customer's
energy use history on a vertical and horizontal axis. The vertical axis shows cost
or energy use amounts, while the horizontal axis shows the interval of time, such as
the first day of the bill period in question.
- Temperature Information: A line graph is displayed to show the high and low temperature for each interval of time, and to help CSRs identify possible correlations between a customer's energy use and the weather. Weather data is based on the airport weather station closest to the customer's home.
- Informational Tooltip or Popup: When a CSR hovers over a particular bill period, an informational tooltip appears. This tooltip displays detailed information about that particular period on the chart, including the read type (estimated or actual), date range, energy use amount, temperature, energy costs, bill period length in days, and (if applicable) the impact of solar power (such as a billing credit or amount of energy sent back to the grid).
- Estimated Reads: If one or more bills in the data display have been estimated, the bar in the graph has a different shading, and the tooltip displays a color-coded icon. This information is hidden if the bills are not estimated. See Estimated Bill Notification for more information about what estimated bills are.
- Weekends Highlight: In the month view, weekends are highlighted in the graph to make it easier to distinguish between the days of the week.
- Solar Information: If a customer has solar power, the graph displays color-coded bars to show if and when a customer generated more energy than they consumed.
- Legend: A color-coded legend is displayed below the module to indicate what is being shown in the data display. It includes color-coded lines for the high and low temperatures. If applicable, it includes a special shading for any reads that are estimated and another color for the impact of solar power.
- Table View: The table view presents a consolidated list of key billing details about the customer's energy history to help CSRs answer common questions and quickly diagnose issues. The table view includes a series of columns that provide key details about the customer's bills, including the date range, read type (estimated or actual), energy costs, total energy use amount, average daily energy use, and temperature. Customers who have solar power may see negative cost or energy use values if they sent energy back to the grid. If enough data is available from the utility, the table can also provide views of daily and sub-daily energy use trends. These more granular views allow for a deeper level of analysis that is especially useful for assisting customers who have smart meters.
Download CSV: This link allows users to download a CSV file of the data for further analysis in a software program of their choice, such as Microsoft Excel. The data available in the file is a replica of what is shown in the table view, and it includes temperature information.
Virtual Bills: A virtual bill shows a customer's daily usage data up to the present day in the Data Browser, even though the bill period is not finished yet. This is accomplished by determining the maximum number of days to display along the horizontal axis of the Data Browser in the bill view. Virtual bills are only available in bill view for customers with interval (AMI) data.