How can I identify whether a bill is Flat, Block, Time of Use, or Unbundled?

In PVsell you can specify your customer's bill information and parameters, including the usage and associated costs. The "Bill" tab in the "Projects" or in the "Libraries" section is where you input a detailed power cost assessment in just a few clicks.

You can enter these types of tariff structure into PVsell: Flat, Block, Time of Use, or Unbundled.

Any Bill information you enter in PVsell can be saved to your Library of Bills. By doing this you can save time on the project's "Bill" tab next time. You will be able to avoid entering all the similar bill parameters from scratch, and instead just quickly load all the inputs to your future projects, as well as tailor the loaded bill to any project.

• How do I use the library of bills?

Flat Rate

Flat rate tariffs are where a customer has a single tariff regardless of the time of day or how much energy they consume.

In other words, a Flat Bill is where the price of electricity does not vary. These tariffs may still have a separate circuit for a controlled load such as an off-peak hot water unit, but still be regarded as Flat rate.

• How do I enter a Flat-Rate Tariff into the Bill Tab?

Block

Block tariffs are where a customer pays a different amount for the first portion or block of energy to what they pay for subsequent blocks of energy. The tariff rate therefore depends upon how much the customer consumes in a given period (block).

• How do I enter a Block Tariff into the Bill Tab?

• How does PVsell calculate Block Tariffs?

Time of Use

Time of Use tariffs are where a customer is charged a different amount during different times of the day and days of the week. There may be Peak periods, Off-Peak periods, and even Shoulder periods in a Time of Use tariff.

• How do I enter a Time-of-Use Tariff into the Bill Tab?

Unbundled

Unbundled tariffs are those which have separate charges for energy and network components of the bill, and in which multiple line items exist.

Also, Unbundled Tariffs are where a customer has a separate charge for their Peak demand (How do I enter Demand Charges?). Unbundled tariffs are commonly encountered in large commercial electricity consumers.

• How do I enter an Unbundled Tariff into the Bill Tab?

If your customer's Bill is Time of Use or Unbundled, always make sure you identify the TOU Times that apply. Otherwise all electricity will be charged at Peak rates and your calculations will be incorrect.

You can as well specify Time of Use timings by just loading the most common ones provided in PVsell library. Learn more about identifying TOU times in PVsell:

• TOU timing: How can I adjust the Peak/Shoulder/Off-peak times?