Commodities and Units

The Commodities and Units settings list all system-defined and custom commodity types (like electricity, water, and natural gas) and their units of measure. 

These settings are typically configured during initial setup but can be updated to support new reporting or business requirements.

Add a commodity

You can add a custom commodity in Commodities and Units.

1. Click Add Commodity.
2. Enter the commodity name.
3. Enter a 3 letter abbreviation. This serves as the commodity code and must be unique. This code is automatically added to the meter name when a new meter is created.

Note: For system commodities, the abbreviation is not the commodity code. To see the commodity code for system commodities hover over the commodity name in the table to view the code in brackets.

Use rollup unit

The rollup unit is the common use unit for consistent reporting. It converts all use values to a common unit—which is helpful when vendors report use in different units.

• Each commodity has a default rollup unit.
• You can select an existing unit or create a new one using setup spreadsheets.
• A rollup unit is required when vendor data includes multiple units.
  
  For example, vendors may report natural gas in different units, such as MCF and THERM. The rollup unit converts these into one consistent unit for use in reports and benchmarks.

Demand rollup unit

When you select a demand rollup unit, the commodity also includes demand values in reports.


Note: Meters must have bills that include demand data for demand reporting to work.

Conversion information

When you select a rollup unit that is not an energy unit, you can choose to convert the commodity to an energy equivalent.

• Check the Convert to Energy option.
• Enter the conversion factor to define how the commodity is translated into energy use.

Rollup unit categories

• Cost only (no rollup unit)
• Volume
• Weight
• Energy
• Counter
• Time
• Area
• Other
• Rate of Mass
• Temperature
• Velocity
• Pressure
• Concentration
• Frequency
• Rate of Volume
• Rate of Energy
• Current
• Voltage
• GHG

Add a category

You can group commodities into categories to improve reporting on use and cost. Categories help you organize data for more detailed and flexible reports.

• EnergyCAP provides four default categories. You can edit or delete these to match your reporting needs.
• When you create a new category, you must assign a rollup unit (such as kWh or gallons). All commodities added to the category use this rollup unit for summaries.

✅ Use categories to simplify tracking, comparing, and reporting across similar commodities.

Add a commodity to a category

To add a commodity to a category, click the commodity name to open the edit dialog. You can select an existing category or create a new one.

Remove a commodity from a category

1. Click the commodity link.
2. Clear the Category selection for the commodity and press the Enter key.
3. Set the Use rollup unit for the commodity.
4. Press Save to remove the commodity from the category.

Data Reporting Settings

Use Data Reporting Setting to choose how data is displayed throughout the application. These settings affect units, currency, and visualizations across dashboards and reports.

Energy use

Cost

• Set your default system currency (for example, USD, CAD).
• This currency appears on bills and records by default. You can override it as needed when viewing specific bills.

Area

• Select how floor area should be displayed (for example, square feet or square meters).

Exclude months from charts

• You can exclude recent months from dashboard charts to avoid showing incomplete data.
• Example: If the current month is September and you select Last 2 Months, the system excludes September, August, and July.

More about energy use units

This setting defines the unit of measure used in charts and reports when unlike energy commodities (for example, electricity and natural gas) are combined. It applies across various modules like:

• Groups and Benchmarks
• Energy Use Intensity (EUI)
• Other energy-related reports

🚫 Commodities that can't be converted to energy (like water or refuse) are not included.