As the energy transition accelerates, so too does the complexity of billing. From supporting new renewable commercial models to automating settlement across multiple markets, today’s energy suppliers need more than a billing system they need a platform built for change.
This is the story of how we partnered with a major European energy supplier initially to support UK billing, and now extended into Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France to deliver a billing solution capable of powering next-generation PPAs, and doing it in a way that’s fast, auditable, and scalable.
Multiple Data Sources – A Billing Engine That Brings Everything Together
Modern billing sits at the centre of a web of systems. Our solution ingests data from trading platforms, metering systems, and market data feeds, as well as integrating deeply with internal systems like SAP and other financial ERPs. For this supplier, the solution needed to:
- Synchronise metered volumes from multiple market sources
- Integrate live and historical trade data for settlement validation
- Incorporate market pricing curves, imbalance charges, and grid fees
- Align with accounting systems, such as SAP to ensure accurate accruals, financial postings, and reconciliation
And critically it had to do this across different countries, each with their own market structures, calendars, and settlement rules. The platform now supports all relevant market granularities from half-hourly data in the UK to 15 minutely in EU markets.
Generation Phases – Billing Across the Lifecycle of a PPA
One of the key complexities in renewable billing is handling generation phases, as assets move from development through to long-term operation. Our billing engine supports full lifecycle logic:
- Phase 0: Build – Where sites may receive imbalance pricing during commissioning
- Phase 1: Pre-Operate – Settled against spot prices ahead of full contract execution
- Phase 2: Operate – Under standard contracted terms, often linked to annual averages or market indexes
- Phase 3: Operate plus – Post-subsidy or off-contract billing, with revised tariffs
Each phase can carry its own component structure and calculation logic, which updates dynamically based on date, status, and meter assignment. This enables suppliers to bill more accurately, reflect market reality, and reduce reconciliation risk later in the process.
Billing Components – Configurable, Extensible, Instant
While the initial scope was to automate a predefined set of complex PPA structures, the real opportunity came in flexibility.
This supplier needed a solution that could:
- Handle existing extensive billing arrangements with all their complex logic (market prices, volume bands, peak/off-peak splits, curtailment calculations, and grid charges)
- Rapidly add new billing components to reflect future commercial opportunities
- Allow their origination and sales teams to confidently price and offer new structures, knowing the platform could support the creation of new components in a short time window.
Today, the billing engine allows for new components to be configured in days, not months enabling faster innovation, better commercial responsiveness, and stronger customer confidence.
Accruals, Finance Timelines & SAP Integration
One of the most important requirements for any billing solution in a supply business is the ability to support financial accuracy and timeliness.
For this project, Utilidex built a process to:
- Generate accruals at the start of the month for finance forecasting and reporting
- Create customer invoices within strict monthly cut-off windows
- Post those bills directly into SAP, aligned with general ledger mappings, VAT settings, and document types
The result is a workflow that not only handles commercial complexity, but also satisfies internal governance and reporting requirements.
A Digital-First Billing Experience for Everyone
While much of the complexity lies in the engine, the true value comes from how this data is surfaced. This solution was built with transparency in mind, for both internal teams and external customers.
- Finance, sales, and operations teams can all access the same data sets, views, and audit logs
- End customers can log in, view invoices, download supporting data, and understand the calculations behind every line item
In a world of multi-party energy agreements, our focus has been building trust, visibility and auditability for suppliers.
A Platform for Partners, Not Just Customers
We believe the future of billing is built on a foundation of collaboration, bringing the best of domain expertise, platform capability, and real-world needs into a single solution.
If you are navigating complex billing challenges and want a partner to drive innovation and to build a better energy future in your business, we would love to talk.
Together, Transforming Energy.
From Measurement to Management
Data collection is only the beginning. The real value comes from turning that data into actionable insight.
With fuels, oils, power, and gas now presented together, organisations can begin to ask more strategic questions:
- How do fuel-based emissions compare to those from grid electricity?
- Which sites or vehicle fleets present the greatest decarbonisation opportunity?
- How would switching from heating oil to renewable heat, or from diesel to EVs, affect total Scope 1 and 2 emissions?
- What would be the financial impact of such transitions under different energy-price scenarios?
This capability moves Utilidex customers beyond simple measurement toward decision-enablement. The platform becomes not just a system of record but a system of advantage, a digital partner that informs investment choices and supports the roadmap to net zero.
Enabling the Energy Transition
The integration of fuel data also empowers energy suppliers, consultants, and partners to play a more proactive role in their clients’ decarbonisation journeys.
For Suppliers
Suppliers can now understand the fuel mix across an entire portfolio, not just the electricity or gas they provide. This insight allows them to support carbon-saving initiatives aligned with customer goals, such as renewable-heat projects, gas substitution strategies, or hybrid energy solutions. By aligning commodity supply with decarbonisation targets, suppliers become trusted partners in the energy transition rather than mere providers of kilowatt-hours or litres.
For End Customers
End users, whether public-sector estates, industrial operators, or multi-site corporates, gain a holistic picture of their current position. They can assess their total emissions baseline, model potential pathways, and set priorities grounded in data. Without this integrated view, it’s impossible to know which actions deliver the greatest impact or return on investment.
For Carbon Consultants and Engineers
Engineering-led carbon consultants can overlay technical feasibility assessments onto the same dataset, supporting clients in identifying retrofit options, fuel-switching opportunities, and new-build energy strategies. A unified platform reduces time spent consolidating data and allows more time for what matters, designing practical pathways to decarbonisation.
Compliance and Reporting: Simplified and Strengthened
Reporting is another area of immediate value. With Utilidex, organisations no longer need to juggle multiple spreadsheets or separate systems to satisfy disclosure obligations.
The platform brings natural gas, power, and fuels into a single reporting environment, producing automated outputs aligned with regulatory and voluntary frameworks. This unified dataset supports:
- Streamlined SECR and ESOS submissions with verified emission factors.
- Corporate ESG reporting under CDP, GRESB, and TCFD frameworks.
- Consistent audit trails for internal and external verification.
- Portfolio benchmarking, enabling performance comparison across regions, assets, and business units.
As regulatory requirements tighten, the ability to demonstrate accuracy, completeness, and traceability in carbon data will become a key differentiator. Utilidex provides that assurance.
A Step Toward Predictive Carbon Management
Looking ahead, integration opens the door to predictive and AI-assisted carbon management. With all commodities consolidated in one environment, Utilidex can apply machine learning and analytics to forecast future emissions trajectories, test “what-if” transition scenarios, and model cost-to-carbon trade-offs.
This evolution mirrors what’s happening in energy trading, where the shift from reactive systems to predictive intelligence is transforming decision-making. The same principle applies here: carbon data that once provided visibility can now deliver foresight.
Imagine being able to see not just where your emissions have been, but where they are likely to go under different procurement or investment strategies. That is the future Utilidex is enabling.
From Visibility to Decision-Enablement
For years, carbon reporting has been about compliance, producing spreadsheets, aligning factors, and submitting disclosures. But as the energy transition accelerates, organisations need tools that don’t just report but guide.
By combining fuels, oils, natural gas, and electricity within a single system, Utilidex transforms carbon accounting into carbon intelligence. The platform delivers:
- Visibility – comprehensive data coverage across all energy sources.
- Insight – unified analytics to identify reduction opportunities.
- Enablement – actionable information to support investment and operational decisions.
This marks a fundamental shift, from monitoring to managing, from compliance to strategy.
Defining the Next Era of Energy Data Management
The addition of fuels and oils data is more than a feature; it’s a statement about where the industry is headed. Energy management is evolving from siloed monitoring to integrated, AI-ready ecosystems that inform every stage of the decarbonisation journey.
In this new era:
- Suppliers collaborate with customers to design low-carbon supply portfolios.
- Consultants use unified data to deliver engineering-based transition roadmaps.
- Customers gain the confidence to make investment decisions backed by accurate, consolidated evidence.
As energy systems become more complex, decentralised, digitised, and decarbonised, the ability to connect commodities, convert data, and create actionable intelligence will define leadership.
Looking Ahead
At Utilidex, our goal is simple: to make carbon and energy data work harder for our customers. The expansion of our platform to capture fuels and oils brings us another step closer to that goal.
By delivering a unified view across electricity, gas, and fuels, we help organisations turn information into insight and insight into action, supporting smarter, faster, and more confident decisions on the path to net zero.
This is not just about better reporting; it’s about empowering the energy transition, one dataset at a time.