At Ivy, we aim to make your billing experience smooth, transparent, and accurate. Occasionally, we may need to estimate your energy usage to ensure you receive your bill on time. This article explains why this happens, how we calculate estimates, and what happens once your actual data becomes available.
When does Ivy estimate my bill?
Ivy calculates your Solar Statement using actual energy consumption data from your utility provider; this way we know exactly how much energy you use each billing period (e.g. 250 kWh).
If this data isn’t available by the time Ivy needs to produce your Solar Statement, we estimate your energy usage to ensure you receive your bill on time.
Why is my data missing?
Your energy consumption data may be missing or inaccessible due to one or more of the following reasons:
1. Utility provider delays: Utility providers may experience technical issues that delay the transfer of data to Ivy.
2. Lost authorization: If Ivy loses access to your utility account, you’ll need to reconnect it to restore access to your data.
3. Utility bill corrections: Occasionally, utility providers restrict access to data while making corrections to past bills.
How is my data estimated?
The following methods are used in order of priority:
1. Historical consumption: If we have at least one full month of data from the past three months, we’ll use this to estimate your energy usage. We align the days of the week and times of day to match your current billing period for the most accurate profile.
2. Community average: If historical data isn’t available for your unit, we use data from similar units in your community to create an average usage profile by using statistical methods.
3. Recent usage weekly profile: When some of your data is available historically but not a full consecutive month, we calculate a weekly average based on your available data. This average is then applied to your current billing period to estimate your usage.
How do I know when my bill is estimated?
If your bill has been estimated, you’ll see a clear “Estimated” tag in multiple places throughout your Solar Statement:
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Page 1: At the top near your amount due
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Page 2: In the Bill Breakdown section
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Page 3: In the “What You Would’ve Paid Without Solar” section
When we estimate your bill, we also estimate the tariff or rate plan that would have applied to your utility usage. This includes factors like your Time-of-Use schedule or tiered rate levels. We always use the most up-to-date rate information available from your utility to make this as accurate as possible.
How does Ivy correct an estimation?
When your energy consumption data becomes available, Ivy calculates a correction called a “True-Up” and applies this to a future bill either as a credit (if we overestimated your usage) or a debit (if we underestimated it).
For example:
Let’s say we used estimated energy consumption data (e.g. 260 kWh) and calculated your cost of “What I Would Have Paid without Solar” at $85.
Once we obtain your actual energy consumption data (e.g. 248 kWh) and recalculate the cost of “What I Would Have Paid without Solar”, we see that it turns out to be $75.
This means that we overestimated your usage by 12 kWh resulting in a $10 difference, so you will see a $10 True-Up credit on your next bill in the "Adjustments" section in the "Bill Breakdown" module on page 2.
If we instead underestimated your usage and your actual cost turned out to be $95, you would see a $10 True-Up debit.
The True-Up process ensures your bill always reflects your actual energy usage, so you’re never over or undercharged in the long term.
If the True-Up results in a charge that significantly increases your bill, Ivy may spread it over multiple billing periods to avoid a sudden large payment.
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