Energy Use Overview
The Energy Use Overview compares customers' energy use from their most recent bill period to their energy use in the same bill period from the previous year. An analogy insight may appear to help customers understand how their usage relates to real-world examples. The Energy Use Overview is included in the Smart Dashboard.
On this page:
Requirements
Utility Requirements
Same as listed in the product-wide requirements.
Customer Requirements
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Category |
Description |
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Billing Frequency |
Monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly. |
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Data Delivery Frequency |
Daily, monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly. |
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Data Requirements |
Bill-level reads from two service points at most (for example, one for gas and one for electricity). The start and end dates for each service point may not differ by more than three days. |
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Data History |
At least one bill is required for the feature to render. A total of 12 bills or more is required to display the most recent bill period and compare it with the same period in the previous year. Customers with less data may see:
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Data Coverage |
Not applicable. By default, any data that is available is displayed, even if some reads are missing. |
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Supported Fuels |
Gas, electricity, and dual fuel. |
Limitations
- Sub-Bill Views: Because the widget uses bill-level data rather than AMI data, customers cannot select any sub-bill views, such as daily or hourly views. Users who want this level of detail can go to the Data Browser.
- Negative Values: The display of negative energy use or cost information is not supported. If a customer has a negative bill, then no data is displayed for it in the bar chart.
User Experience
The Energy Use Overview displays the most recent bill period’s energy use in comparison to that of a bill period in the past. Energy use for dual fuel customers is displayed in combined energy units, while an applicable energy unit of measurement is used for single-fuel customers. Dual fuel customers do not see a menu to view bill trends for a specific fuel type.
Title: The name of the widget reflects its focus on energy usage patterns over time.
Insight Statement: An insight statement appears above the bar chart telling the customer whether their most recent bill period's usage is higher, lower, or about the same as the same period last year. The exact amount is shown in bold to draw the customer's attention to the comparison point of the insight. If there is no historical bill from the same period last year, the insight statement simply shows the cost or usage of the present bill period, without any comparison.
- Threshold: The default threshold that controls the statement is 6%. For example, if the customer's usage is 6% above or below the compared period, then the appropriate insight message will display. If the customer's usage does not exceed the threshold, then the insight message states that the customer's usage is about the same.
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Data States: The insight statement is different depending on how much energy the customer used.
Data State Insight Usage compared to past period is lower "This <month>, you used X% less energy than last <month>." Usage compared to past period is higher "This <month>, you used X% more energythan last <month>." Usage compared to past period is about the same "This <month>, you used about the same amount of energy as last <month>." Usage of current bill period without any comparison to a previous bill period "This <month>, you used X."
Energy Use Analogies: An analogy may appear in the feature comparing the customer's difference in energy use to common energy use scenarios. For example, energy use can be expressed in the number of days it would light your home. An analogy only displays if there is a difference in energy use. It will not display if the customer used the same amount of energy as in the last comparison period.
Bar Chart: The bar chart highlights the most recent bill in a blue color, and the previous comparison period in a dark gray color. Other bill periods that occurred between those points are shown in a light gray color. The y-axis shows the bill amount, and the x-axis shows the month and year of the bill period.
- Hover: When hovering over a bar in the bar chart, both the associated dollar amounts and energy units for the bill period are displayed in a tooltip above the bar. The energy units resolve to electricity-only, gas-only, or combined energy units depending on whether the customer is single or dual fuel.
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Data States: The bar chart displays differently based on how many bills are available.
Data State Bar Chart Display 12 or more bills The most recent bill period is highlighted and compared with the same bill period from the previous year. 2 to 12 bills The most recent bill period is highlighted and compared with the previous bill period using an analogy. 1 bill The bill period cost or usage is displayed. There is no previous bill period show, and no comparison to the same bill period from the previous year. No data (or less than one bill's worth of data) A message is displayed indicating that there will be data available soon. This message encourages customers to complete the Home Energy Analysis while they wait for their data to be available.
User Experience Variations
Single Fuel
The Energy Use Overview uses the applicable unit for the fuel type. For gas-only customers, energy use analogies are limited to a set that are applicable for gas-only customers. All analogies are available to dual-fuel and electric-only customers.