Glossary

Bill Capture Terms 

Transactions

Number of unique account/meter relationships in each bill. For example, if a bill contained two meters, that would be considered two transactions.   

Transaction Type

A classification that identifies whether the bill transactions are live, historical, maintenance, or setup enrollment.  

Bill Acquisition Method (formerly File Type)

A classification that indicates the method by which the utility bill transaction was retrieved such as web download, mail redirect, PDF upload, EDI, electronic transfer, etc. 

Bill Acquisition Partner

The partner or technology responsible for acquiring and retrieving the bill.  

Bill Processing Partner

The partner or technology responsible for extracting the data from the bill.  

Adjustments

The process for identifying bill transactions that should not be billed, typically due to an error on EnergyCAP’s part.   

Enrollments

The process of adding new account(s) to be managed for Bill Capture service. This is typically an onboarding activity which adds all planned accounts; however, additional enrollments may occur throughout the life of the customer.  

Utility Management Objects

Bills

Official records of utility charges, typically issued monthly, containing consumption, cost, and service period details.

Accounts

Entities in the EnergyCAP product that represent billing units or tenants responsible for utility consumption and charges. These may align with internal accounting or cost center structures. 

Meters

Physical or virtual devices that measure utility consumption (e.g., electricity, water, gas). Associated with buildings or spaces. 

Line Items

Individual charges, usage amounts, or fees on a bill, broken down into discrete rows, such as generation, delivery, taxes, etc. 

Bill Line Item Type (aka Observation type)

Categories that represent the most granular level of detail on a utility bill such as charge, cost, demand, tax, etc.   

Bill Header Information

Top-level details on a bill, including account number, bill date, period start/end, total amount due, and vendor. 

Batch

A collection of records (such as bills or transactions) processed or imported into the system as a single unit and tracked as a unit through completion 

Summary Bill

A summary bill from a utility provider is basically a consolidated invoice that rolls up charges for multiple service accounts into a single document. A summary bill typically results in multiple bill transactions.  

Meter Group

Automatic or manual grouping of meters to use for comparison or as filters in dashboards, reports, and bill lists. 

Interval Data

Umbrella term of time-series usage data recorded at regular intervals (e.g., every 15 minutes), used for analysis, outlier detection, and demand tracking. Includes the sub-concepts below. 

Submeter

A secondary meter that tracks usage for a subset of the load measured by a main meter, often used for tenant or department chargebacks

Channel

A data stream or feed from a meter, usually representing a specific measurement type (e.g., consumption, demand). 

Reading

A recorded value from a meter that indicates usage at a specific time (e.g., kWh for electric meters). 

Virtual/Chargeback Meter

A logical meter created to allocate or calculate usage and costs, often based on formulas or submeter data. 

Data Mapping 

The process of aligning source data fields (e.g., from bill files or interval data feeds) to the corresponding system fields. 

Hierarchy and Location Structure

Sites (aka buildings)

Sites can represent a physical or logical place with properties such as size, location, and age.

Organizations

Organizations group related sites, such as departments, campuses, or business units. They can be used to limit user access.

Spaces

Subdivisions within a building (e.g., rooms, floors, departments) where submetered usage can be tracked.

Site Group

Automatic or manual grouping of sites to use for comparison or as filters in dashboards, reports, and bill lists.

User and Access Management

Database

The physical location of a customer’s data and configuration.

Datasource

A datasource is a customer’s unique identifier that points to a virtual space where a customer’s data and configuration are stored and managed

User (Visitor/Contact)

A person with access to EnergyCAP’s platform, either internally or externally. May be an admin, analyst, or casual viewer.

Onboarding

The guided process of bringing a new customer live on the system, including configuration, training, and data import. Enrollment The process of registering customer’s vendors/bills into the EnergyCAP Bill CAPture platform.

Vendors and Rates

Vendor

The utility provider or billing entity that supplies services such as electricity, gas, water, etc.

Rate

The pricing structure applied to usage—may include tiered rates, time-of-use rates, or flat charges based on consumption.