Rates Data File Specifications

There are several rates data files that Oracle Utilities Opower requires in order to provide personalized cost insights to customers. These files serve as inputs to the Oracle Utilities Opower Rate Engine, a software computing model that calculates the cost insights based on each customer's rate plans and energy use. Your Delivery Team will work with you to determine which files are applicable to your situation, to construct sample files when necessary, and to test that the files are correct and are being transferred as expected.

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Overview of Files

The data you provide in each file should be limited to the fields described in each file's specification. Including additional fields will complicate the data transfer process, and the data will not be used. The responsibility of who must provide each file varies, and not every file is required for every type of rate plan.

File	Responsibility
Rate Attributes File The Rate Attributes file contains a series of key value pairs that define the account-specific attributes for a customer. When collected together, these attributes can be used to associate a customer account with the appropriate rate plan and rate options, as well as characteristics like budget billing, solar, and peak time rebates.	Utility
Rate Prices File The Rate Prices file specifies the cost to apply to each component of a rate plan with which a customer is associated. The Rate Prices file includes fields for the rate plan, rate components, charges or credits, start and end dates, and other fields as applicable.	Utility
Holidays and Seasons File The Holidays and Seasons file defines the different holidays (such as local or national holidays) and seasons (such as summer and winter) throughout the year when the price of energy varies. Your Delivery Team will work with you to determine whether this file is applicable to your situation.	Utility
Rate Tier Definitions File The Rate Tier Definitions file defines the lower and upper bounds of each tier in a tiered rate plan. Your Delivery Team will create the file and work with you to gather the necessary inputs.	Oracle, with utility input
Rate Period Definitions File The Rate Period Definitions file defines the different "periods" or times of day, season, or year when the cost of energy varies. It is commonly used for time of use (TOU) rate plans. Your Delivery Team will create the file and work with you to gather the necessary inputs.	Oracle, with utility input
Peak Time Rebates Files The Peak Time Rebate files contain information about peak events when weather is more extreme than usual and the cost of energy is higher. These files allow Oracle Utilities to calculate how much money a customer spent during a peak event. Baselines File Peak Pricing Event File Peak Time Rebates File	Utility
Baselines File The baselines file contains any energy use baselines that should be used to determine the pricing for tiered and peak time rebate rate plans. You Delivery Team will work with you to determine whether this file is applicable to your situation.	Utility

Example Scenarios

The files required for your program will vary slightly depending on the rate plans that must be modeled. Use the example scenarios below to better understand which files you will need to send, and contact your Delivery Team if you have any questions.

Tiered Rate Plan

In a tiered rate plan, customers are charged based on how much energy they use within certain tiers. For example, residential electricity customers could be charged one rate for the first 100 kWhs they consume in a bill period, a higher rate for the next 30 kWhs, and a higher rate for the next 70 kWhs. The graphic below shows the files and data fields involved in a tiered rate plan, along with who must provide each file. The rate_plan_identifier and rate_component fields form the common link between most of the files.

Image illustration the data files required for a tiered rate plan.

1. Rate Attributes File

The Rate Attributes file identifies the account_id of customers and the rate plan attributes that each account is associated with. For example, as shown below, a key could be RATE_PLAN_CODE and a value could be E-RES to associate a customer account with a residential electricity rate plan. Additionally, other key-value pairs can be used to associate a customer's account with different rates based on their geographic location, such as whether they live inside or outside city limits. See Rate Attributes File for more information and additional examples, including for solar customers.

account_id	key	value	start_date
902101	CITY_LOC	IN	20191208
902101	RATE_PLAN_CODE	E-RES	20191208
204011	CITY_LOC	IN	20191208
204011	RATE_PLAN_CODE	E-RES	20191208
309022	CITY_LOC	IN	20191208
309022	RATE_PLAN_CODE	E-RES	20191208
309023	CITY_LOC	OUT	20200315
309023	RATE_PLAN_CODE	E-RES	20200315
204336	RATE_PLAN_CODE	E-RES	20200315
204336	BUDGET_BILLING	1	20200315

2. Rate Prices File

The Rate Prices file defines the price of energy for each "rate component" of a rate plan—including the price of each "tier" of the rate plan. A rate component is a line item or charge in the rate plan. In the example below, there are five incrementing charges for each tier in the plan, as well as other charges for components like regulatory fees and power supply adjustments. Note that the price of a tier can start and end on a specific date. This can be done when a utility needs to update the tier and replace it with a different price. See Rate Prices File for more information and additional examples.

rate_plan_identifier	rate_component	seasons	price_type	tier	price	effective_start_date	effective_end_date
E-RES/IN-CITY	CBC-CAP		CHARGE		0.00144	20191101
E-RES/IN-CITY	CBC-EEP		CHARGE		0.00336	20191101
E-RES/IN-CITY	CBC-STL		CHARGE		0.00123	20191101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY		CHARGE	1	0.02901	20180101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY		CHARGE	2	0.05833	20180101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY		CHARGE	3	0.07815	20180101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY		CHARGE	4	0.09315	20180101	20200401
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY		CHARGE	4	0.08315	20200401
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY		CHARGE	5	0.10815	20180101
E-RES/IN-CITY	PSA	WINTER	CHARGE		0.02894	20191201
E-RES/IN-CITY	PSA	SUMMER	CHARGE		0.02894	20191201
E-RES/IN-CITY	REG		CHARGE		0.01343	20191201

3. Holidays and Seasons File

The Holidays and Seasons file defines the different holidays (such as local or national holidays) and seasons (such as summer and winter) throughout the year when the price of energy varies. In the example below, the winter and summer seasons are defined, along with a national holiday in July. This file may not be applicable to your situation if your utility does not change the cost of energy based on seasons or holidays. See Holidays and Seasons File file for more information.

rate_plan_identifier	rate_component	season	day_type	resolution	duration	start_date	event_date	effective_start_date
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	WINTER		MONTH	8	1001		20200101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	SUMMER		MONTH	4	601		20200101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY		HOLIDAY	DAY	1		20200703

4. Rate Tier Definitions File

The Rate Tier Definitions file defines the lower and upper bound of each tier in the plan. In the example below, there are five tiers, and each tier has an upper and lower bound. The price of energy increments when a customer's energy use moves from one tier to the next. See Rate Tier Definitions File for more information and additional examples.

rate_plan_identifier	rate_component	tier	lower_bound	upper_bound	effective_start_date
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	1	0	501	20200101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	2	501	1001	20200101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	3	1001	1501	20200101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	4	1501	2501	20200101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	5	2501		20200101

5. Baselines File

The baselines file contains any energy use baselines that should be used to determine the pricing for a tiered rate plan. For example, your utility could specify an energy use baseline of 500 kWh for a group of customers, and then charge those customers a specific rate for any energy that is consumed within that baseline. If customers exceed 100% of the baseline, they would then be moved to the next tier and charged a higher rater. The baselines file can specify multiple baselines for different customer demographics or zip codes. For example, one set of baselines could apply to low-income customers, and another set could apply to customers within a specific zip code. This file may not be applicable if your utility does not use energy use baselines to determine tiered rates. See Baselines File for more information.

The asterisk (*) in this example is a wildcard indicating that the usage baseline is applicable to all rate plan identifiers.

account_id	season	usage_baseline	resolution	rate_plan_identifier	rate_component	start_date	premise_id
902101	SUMMER	0.5900000	DAY	*	TIERED	20180401	9671204723
204011	SUMMER	26.3380000	DAY	*	TIERED	20200507	3274021769
309022	SUMMER	7.7000000	DAY	*	TIERED	20190501	1422197854
309023	WINTER	29.4000000	DAY	*	TIERED	20190101	1492198469
309024	WINTER	1.9200000	DAY	*	TIERED	20181101	8989765498
309116	SUMMER	16.5000000	DAY	*	TIERED	20190501	13576452167

6. Billing and Interval Data

The billing data store includes the fields necessary to associate a customer_id, account_id, and service_point_id with the tiered rate plan. The interval data store provides the service_point_id field to associate a customer's service point with the tiered rate plan.

Time of Use Rate Plan

In a time of use (TOU) rate plan, customers are charged based on the time of day when energy is used. TOU insights can be shown in various Oracle Utilities Opower products and features such as the High Bill Alert AMI communication and the Behavioral Load Shaping Time of Use 101 module.

For this type of rate plan, most of the same files as in a tiered rate plan are applicable. See the tiered rate plan example above for descriptions and examples of each file. However, a TOU plan has one primary difference: a TOU period definitions file is required instead of a tier definitions file.

Image showing the rates data files required for the Time of Use rate plan.

The Rate TOU Period Definitions file specifies each time period in the day when the cost of energy varies. For example, as shown in the table below, the file can specify the peak, partial peak, and off-peak time periods for different seasons of the year, days of the week, and even holidays. See Rate Period Definitions File for more information and additional examples.

rate_plan_identifier	rate_component	season	day_type	period	ordinal	resolution	duration	start_time	effective_start_date
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	WINTER	WEEKDAY	PEAK		HOUR	3	1500	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	WINTER	WEEKDAY	PART_PEAK	1	HOUR	8	700	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	WINTER	WEEKDAY	PART_PEAK	2	HOUR	4	1800	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	WINTER	WEEKDAY	OFF_PEAK		HOUR	9	2200	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	WINTER	WEEKDAY	OFF_PEAK		HOUR	24	0	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	WINTER	HOLIDAY	OFF_PEAK		HOUR	24	0	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	SUMMER	WEEKDAY	PEAK		HOUR	3	1500	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	SUMMER	WEEKDAY	PART_PEAK	1	HOUR	8	700	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	SUMMER	WEEKDAY	PART_PEAK	2	HOUR	4	1800	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	SUMMER	WEEKDAY	OFF_PEAK		HOUR	9	2200	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	SUMMER	WEEKDAY	OFF_PEAK		HOUR	24	0	20190101
E-RES/IN-CITY	ENERGY	SUMMER	HOLIDAY	OFF_PEAK		HOUR	24	0	20190101