What the review needs to establish
Begin with data quality: map each invoice to a physical site and responsible entity. Use comparable periods and separate electricity from gas. Check account additions, closures and assignment before choosing a common term.
Information to prepare
- Create a meter and contract register
- Group by utility, eligibility and commodity
- Align dates only where useful
- Assign invoice and renewal ownership
A worked decision example
Hypothetical: one store’s invoice covers eleven months while another covers twelve. Summing the two without period normalization creates a misleading portfolio budget and cost ranking.
Illustrative inputs explain the decision; they are not an available offer, customer outcome or forecast.
Build an exception-based portfolio view
Track contracts ending soon, missing invoices, unmatched meters and proposed closures before aggregating totals. Assign each exception to an owner. Portfolio reporting is more useful when the team can trace a total back to a site, period and cost scope, and can identify which accounts actually need action.
How to use the result
Use the portfolio planner to organize consistent-period inputs locally. It is a planning aid; account-specific tariffs and legal authority still require review.
Separate supply performance from portfolio changes
A growing or shrinking portfolio needs a comparable-site view alongside actual total cost. Show openings, closures, acquisitions, missing periods, and meter transfers as a bridge between reporting periods. A reduction caused by selling a location is different from improved performance at retained sites. Preserve both views so management can assess current cash needs and like-for-like trends. Account ownership also needs confirmation: a landlord allocation, tenant meter, and directly contracted corporate account can require different procurement authority even when they appear under one property name.
Questions & answers
How should a newly acquired site enter the register?
Verify the legal customer, service status, utility, class, current obligations, available data, and upcoming notices. Do not assume the seller’s supply agreement or old authorization transfers automatically. Record unresolved transition questions with a responsible owner.
Can consolidated billing replace meter-level review?
It can simplify administration but should retain enough detail to reconstruct accounts, dates, quantities, rates, fees, and exceptions. A correct portfolio total can conceal a missing or mispriced location when offsetting errors are not examined.
What should happen when a site is archived?
Retain agreements, final bills, settlements, notices, and release evidence with reviewable history. Remove inactive work from current decision totals without erasing obligations or unresolved issues. An inactive meter status does not itself establish that every contractual responsibility has ended.
Sources & scope
Primary references reviewed October 15, 2026. These sources support the stated concepts; actual tariffs, program rules and signed agreements govern the account. Decision examples and operational worksheets are original educational analysis.
- EIA: electricity prices and factors affecting prices
Price components and variation; not an account-specific quote. - DOE FEMP: evaluating utility rate options
Tariff components and rate analysis; actual tariff governs. - EIA: natural gas customer choice programs
Gas choice and utility delivery; local eligibility must be confirmed. - ENERGY STAR: Portfolio benchmarking interpretation
Comparisons with consistent property and operating context. - EIA: Retail choice eligibility
Utility and account distinctions in a portfolio.