What data is available on the utilities page & how to interpret, filter and download the data.
The Utility page is a powerhouse of Backpack data, it's here that all your data comes to life!
The page includes:
- Graph visually depicting all utility data in the Backpack adjusted to show data in the appropriate month regardless of billing service dates
- Hover state depicting Year-over-Year (YoY) comparisons of expenses to illustrate the evolution of your energy consumption patterns.
- Additional views showing information by utility source - energy (electric & gas), water, waste, etc.
- View data utilizing units of measurement specific to the utility (ie: Kilowatts, gallons, yards, etc.)
- When multiple sources of data are available for any given utility, the software includes the ability to view meters separate or together
- Download utility bills (where appropriate, not all utility connections include an actual bill, some data comes to Backpack via API)
- Download utility data into a CSV by source
- Share and manage utility account login information
The Utility Chart
The Utility Page Graph depicts utility data by source in a bar chart, allowing users to visualize the utility usage. Here are some of the great features of the chart:
- Hover: Hover over data to see more detail about each bar on the chart
- Year: Select which years to display by clicking the box next to each year
- Separate Meters: toggle this switch on/off to show individual meters in the graph with a legend below
- Energy (Electric & Gas): Kilowatt hours (kWh), Joule (J), kilo-British thermal unit (kBTU)
-
Water: Gallon (gal), Centum Cubic Feet (CCF), Gallons/100 (cGal), Gallons/1000 (kGal)
- Waste: Cubic Yards (yd3), Tons (ton)
Understanding Utility Data in the Chart
Utility consumption in the chart is adjusted by the software to represent normalized data. Normalized data is data aligned with the appropriate month regardless of the service dates of the invoice.
The Advantage of this method is:
- Easily see actual usage and cost associated with a calendar month, not spanning multiple months based on bill dates
To calculate normalized consumption, the total consumption on the bill is divided by the number of days in the service period to get a daily amount. The daily amount is then multiplied by the number of days in the calendar month to create a "normalized" total that is equal to the billing service month.
Example:
-
-
-
A water bill is received with service dates of 11/15/22 - 12/16/23 and consumption of 130,000 gallons
-
11/15/22 - 12/16/23 = 32 days (including the end date)
- 130,000 divided by 32 days = 4,063 gallons/day
- The service dates start in November so this is considered a November bill, November has 30 days in the month
- 4,063 gallons/day x 30 days = 121,890 gallons
- 121,890 gallons is the "normalized" consumption for the month of November
-
-
-
Hover over the bar chart data with the mouse pointer to see more detail. The graph incorporates Year-over-Year (YoY) comparisons of expenses to illustrate the evolution of your energy consumption patterns. For example, are you curious about the potential impact of weather variations? Simply hover over the chart to reveal metrics highlighting cost and temperature percentage change YoY.
Utility Bills & Utility Account Management
In this section of the Utilities page users can:
- View individual bill data in summary or detailed view
- View data by unit
- Download PDF bills (where available)
- Export bill data into a CSV
- Manage Utility accounts
View Bill Data
Viewing individual bill data is easy in Backpack. Click the "Unit" dropdown on the right side of the chart to view data in multiple formats.
To view more detailed bill data, hover over the desired row and then click the blue down arrow to expand the line. Click "Manage Bill" to see more data & download a PDF of the bill (where available). Not all accounts will include a PDF of the bill, contact support if you have questions about data collection methods for Backpack at support@backpacknetworks.com.
Data Export
Export utility data into a CSV to share or further analyze Backpack data. To export data:
- Click the desired utility
- Select the unit of measurement
- Click the download button (the file will download according to your system setup)
The Backpack team is available to support data upload.
Data Import
A self-serve option is also available using the CSV template & upload options in the software. This typically is utilized at onboarding but only on rare occasions. Reach out to the support team with questions at support@backpacknetworks.com.
Utility Meter Creation & Management
During onboarding users work closely with onboarding coordinator to setup meters, enter credentials and confirm data. Learn more about meter creation at onboarding in this article.
Once meters are set-up users can manage the meters from the Utilities page. Learn more about that in this helpful article.
Need to update your login credentials? Reach out to our support team at support@backpacknetworks.com