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Need help in this area? See Data Input FAQ.
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Navigate to Data Input > Manual Entry to create a bill record by hand.

Wizard steps

The manual entry wizard guides you through six steps:

Step 1: Account Selection

Choose whether this bill is linked to an existing utility account in Nectar or is a standalone manual entry.
  • Linked to account — The bill belongs to a utility account already tracked in Nectar. Meters will be pre-filtered to those associated with the selected account. This is ideal for backfilling historical or gap data for accounts with existing connections or email flows.
  • Standalone manual entry — The bill is not connected to any existing account. Use this for one-off bills, paper bills without a digital source, or data corrections.
You can preview an account’s details before selecting it by clicking the eye icon.

Step 2: Bill Information

Enter the core bill details:
FieldRequiredDescription
Bill DateYesThe date printed on the invoice.
Total ChargesYesThe total dollar amount due on the bill.
Due DateNoThe payment due date.
Invoice IDNoThe invoice or bill number from the utility provider.
NotesNoAny additional context about this bill.

Step 3: Select Meters

Choose the meters that appear on this bill. This step is focused purely on meter selection—you’ll enter the actual usage values in the next step. If you selected an account (linked mode):
  • Meters are pre-filtered to those associated with your selected account
  • All meters across all sites on that account are shown, grouped by site
  • You cannot create new meters in this mode—use standalone mode if you need to add a new meter
If you selected standalone mode:
  • For each usage record, first select a site, then choose a meter at that site
  • Only meters not associated with any account are shown
  • You can create a new meter if needed by specifying the utility type and optional meter number
Click Add another to add multiple usage records—useful when a single bill covers multiple sites or meter types.
Try to select an existing meter whenever possible. Creating duplicate meters can lead to fragmented data across your reports. You can preview meter details by clicking the eye icon.

Step 4: Usage Data

Enter the consumption values for each meter you selected. Each meter shows its utility type icon and name for easy identification.
FieldRequiredDescription
Start DateYesThe first day of the billing period for this meter.
End DateYesThe last day of the billing period for this meter.
UsageYesThe total consumption for the billing period.
UnitsNoThe unit of measurement (kWh, therms, gallons, etc.).
Advanced options (expand to view):
  • Previous/current meter readings
  • Multiplier factor
  • Estimated reading checkbox

Step 5: Additional Details (Optional)

This step is optional. You can add:
  • Peak Demand Meters — Record peak electricity demand (kW) if shown on the bill.
  • Line Items — Break down the total charges into individual items (supply, delivery, taxes, etc.). Optionally link line items to specific usage records.

Step 6: Review & Submit

Review all entered information before saving. Click Edit on any section to make changes.

After saving

When you save a bill entry, you’ll see a success screen with three options:
  • Start another entry — Begin a new manual bill entry immediately
  • View created bill — Go directly to the bill in Data Inventory to review or edit
  • Back to uploads — Return to the Data Input uploads page

Tips

Manual entry is useful for one-off bills that aren’t available digitally, or for making data corrections to existing records.
  • If you have a PDF or image of the bill, consider using Uploads instead for faster AI-powered extraction.
  • Manually entered bills appear in the Data Inventory alongside bills from connections and uploads.
  • For bills covering multiple sites or meters, simply add multiple usage records in Step 3—each record can be assigned to a different site and meter.