For property and energy operations
Standardize Utility Bills Before They Enter Portfolio Reporting
Utility bill review turns bills from different providers into one consistent record for provider, account, billing period, usage, meter readings, charges, balance, due date, and amount due. The toSchema workflow lets property and energy teams correct that record, mark its review status, and export approved data as JSON or CSV.
Updated August 31, 2026
Normalize provider formats into one record
A property portfolio can receive electricity, gas, water, and service bills whose layouts change by provider, jurisdiction, and account. The same operational facts may appear under different labels, while meter readings and itemized charges sit in tables that are difficult to consolidate by hand. Before the data can support reporting, each bill needs a consistent set of fields.
The utility bill workflow extracts the provider and account, billing-period dates, usage descriptions and units, charge categories, previous balance, meter readings, due date, payment status, and total amount due supported by the current schema. It gives reviewers one predictable record without pretending every provider uses the same bill design.
- Keep the account and billing period visible when several sites share a provider.
- Preserve usage units such as kWh or cubic metres beside their values.
- Separate usage, service, tax, and other charges before portfolio reporting.
- Flag unclear values for review instead of silently filling gaps.
Review bills before portfolio analysis
Property managers can correct account or period details, while energy brokers can verify readings, units, and charge lines before combining the record with other sites. Multi-site operators can use approval as a simple boundary between newly extracted data and records ready to leave the workflow.
Each run is saved to the user’s organization. Corrections and status changes create a new revision, so the reviewed record remains available after refresh. Approved records can be downloaded in full JSON or as a flattened CSV row for a downstream reporting process.
Use the bill as evidence, not a complete energy model
A single bill cannot explain occupancy, weather, tariffs, meter replacements, estimated readings, or contractual adjustments. Unexpected usage or cost still needs comparison with portfolio history and the provider’s source statement. A clean extraction is useful input, but it is not proof that a charge is correct.
toSchema does not currently detect anomalies across billing periods, validate tariffs, allocate costs to tenants, connect meters to properties, or pay a bill. Those controls belong in the property, energy, or finance system that receives the reviewed export.
Illustrative example
Example utility bill review record
This current schema fixture shows how provider, period, usage, charges, and meter readings are kept together for review.
Illustrative multi-service bill
Provider account · February billing period · electricity and gas usage · service charge · amount due and due date
Reviewable utility record
{
"providerName": "Pacific Gas & Electric",
"accountNumber": "1234567-890",
"billingPeriodStart": "2024-02-01",
"billingPeriodEnd": "2024-02-29",
"usageDetails": [
{
"description": "Peak Hours Electricity",
"amountUsed": 450,
"unit": "kWh",
"rate": 0.28,
"subtotal": 126
},
{
"description": "Off-Peak Hours Electricity",
"amountUsed": 650,
"unit": "kWh",
"rate": 0.22,
"subtotal": 143
},
{
"description": "Natural Gas Usage",
"amountUsed": 25,
"unit": "therms",
"rate": 1.5,
"subtotal": 37.5
}
],
"charges": [
{
"description": "Peak Hours Electricity",
"amount": 126,
"type": "usage"
},
{
"description": "Off-Peak Hours Electricity",
"amount": 143,
"type": "usage"
},
{
"description": "Natural Gas Usage",
"amount": 37.5,
"type": "usage"
},
{
"description": "Basic Service Charge",
"amount": 10,
"type": "service"
},
{
"description": "Clean Energy Program",
"amount": 15,
"type": "service"
},
{
"description": "State Tax",
"amount": 25.15,
"type": "tax"
},
{
"description": "City Utility Tax",
"amount": 12.35,
"type": "tax"
},
{
"description": "Energy Efficiency Rebate",
"amount": -25,
"type": "other"
}
],
"totalAmountDue": 344,
"dueDate": "2024-03-21",
"paymentStatus": "pending",
"previousBalance": 325.75,
"meterReadings": {
"previous": 45280,
"current": 46380,
"multiplier": 1
},
"warnings": [
{
"field": "usage",
"message": "Usage is 20% higher than the same period last year",
"confidence": 0.95
},
{
"field": "rate",
"message": "Peak hour rate increased by 5% this month",
"confidence": 0.9
}
]
}Currency context and every operationally important value should be checked against the original provider bill.
Limitations
- The current utility schema does not include a dedicated currency field, property identifier, tariff contract, or tenant allocation.
- Estimated readings, unusual units, scanned tables, and provider-specific adjustments can require manual correction.
- Cross-period anomaly detection, tariff validation, payments, and utility-management integrations are not included.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the utility bill workflow for?
It is designed for property managers, energy brokers, and multi-site operations teams that need the same core fields from bills issued in different formats.
Which utility bill fields are extracted?
The current contract covers provider, account, billing period, usage details, charge lines, total amount due, due date, optional previous balance, meter readings, payment status, and warnings.
Does it identify abnormal consumption?
Not by itself. The workflow structures one bill. Detecting abnormal consumption requires trustworthy historical data, site context, and comparison rules in a downstream analysis.
Put it into practice