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 SAP for accurate accounting, accruals, and financial posting

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.

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