> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nectarclimate.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Getting started

> Learn what Nectar does, how it organizes your utility data, and how to find your way around the platform.

<Tip>
  Need quick troubleshooting while onboarding? See [Get Started FAQ](/platform/getting-started-faq).
  Developers should start at [For developers](/platform/for-developers).
</Tip>

## What is Nectar?

If you manage utility data for buildings — whether for one office or thousands of client sites — you know the pain. Logging into utility websites one by one, downloading PDF bills, opening each one, and copying numbers into a spreadsheet. It takes hours, it's error-prone, and you have to do it again next month.

Nectar eliminates that entire process. You connect your utility accounts once, and Nectar handles everything from there: logging in to the utility portal, downloading new bills as they arrive, reading them with AI to extract the important numbers (dates, charges, usage amounts), and organizing all that data so it's ready for your reports, your carbon accounting platform, or wherever else it needs to go.

Think of Nectar as a tireless assistant who checks every utility website every week, grabs the latest bills, reads them perfectly every time, and files everything in exactly the right place.

## How Nectar organizes your data

Think of it like organizing files in a filing cabinet.

Your [**Organization**](/platform/glossary#organization) is the cabinet itself — it's your top-level account that holds everything. Everyone at your company shares this cabinet.

Inside the cabinet, each [**Company**](/platform/glossary#company) is a drawer. A company might represent a client you manage, a business unit within your enterprise, or a portfolio of buildings. You decide how to group things.

Inside each drawer, [**Sites**](/platform/glossary#site) are the individual folders. Each site is a physical place — a building, a warehouse, a storefront, a data center. It has a real address in the real world.

Now here's where it gets interesting:

* A [**Connection**](/platform/glossary#connection) is like a magazine subscription, but instead of magazines, you're getting utility bills. You tell Nectar "here's the login for ConEdison," and Nectar automatically checks that portal and downloads new bills for you every week.

* A [**Bill**](/platform/glossary#bill) (also called a [document](/platform/glossary#document)) is a single utility bill — the charges, service dates, and usage amounts that Nectar extracted from a PDF. It's what you'd normally read by hand.

* An [**Account**](/platform/glossary#account) is the utility account number printed on the bill — like "Account #12345" at the top of the page. One connection can have multiple accounts (for example, a single ConEdison login might show five different account numbers for five different addresses).

* A [**Meter**](/platform/glossary#meter) is the physical device at your site that tracks electricity, gas, water, or other utilities over time. Meters accumulate data month after month, so you can see trends and spot problems.

* [**Usage Data**](/platform/glossary#usage-data) is the actual numbers — how many kWh of electricity you used, how many gallons of water, what it cost. These are the values you need for your reports and calculations.

## How data flows through the system

When you connect a utility account, here's what happens behind the scenes:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Collection">
    Nectar logs into the utility portal using the credentials you provided, just like you would. It
    looks for new bills and downloads them. This happens automatically every week — you don't have
    to do a thing.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Processing">
    Nectar's AI reads each bill the same way a person would — finding the service dates, total
    charges, usage amounts, meter numbers, and rate details. The difference is that Nectar does it
    in seconds, not minutes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Matching">
    The extracted data gets filed in the right place. Usage goes to the correct meter at the correct
    site. If Nectar sees a meter number it hasn't encountered before, it creates a new meter
    automatically.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Available">
    Within minutes, the processed data shows up across the platform — in your **Data Inventory** for
    review, in **Data Quality** for validation, in **Analytics** for charts and trends, and in
    **Data Export** for sending to downstream systems.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Your first steps in Nectar

Here's the typical path for getting started. You don't have to do everything at once — even completing just the first two steps will get data flowing.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add your company and sites">
    Go to **Settings** and create a company (this might represent your business or a client). Then add the sites — the buildings or locations where you have utility accounts. This gives Nectar the structure it needs to organize your data. Adding many locations at once? [Bulk-import your sites](/platform/sites/overview#bulk-import-sites) from a spreadsheet.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect your first utility account">
    Go to **Data Input > Connections** and click **New Connection**. Choose the utility provider, enter the login credentials, and pick which sites the account covers. Nectar takes it from there. Connecting more than a few? [Bulk-import connections](/platform/data-input/connections#bulk-import-connections) in one upload.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Wait for data">
    Nectar typically completes the first data pull within a few days. You'll start seeing bills, meters, and usage data appear in the platform as they're processed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review in Data Inventory">
    Browse your bills, accounts, and meters in **Data Inventory**. Check that the extracted data looks right and that everything is assigned to the correct sites and meters.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set your preferences">
    In [Settings → Company](/platform/settings/company-settings), set your display units and the expected billing frequency per utility, and turn on [anomaly detection](/platform/data-quality/anomalies) to catch late fees and unusual charges automatically.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Export or analyze">
    Once your data is in good shape, head to **Data Export** to download CSVs or push data to integrations, or explore **Analytics** to visualize consumption trends over time.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Invite your team">
    Add colleagues under Settings → Organization and give each the right role — admin, editor, or viewer — scoped company-wide or to specific sites. See [Invitations](/platform/data-input/invitations).
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  The required fields on each import template determine where your data lands and how it breaks down. See the required columns for [sites](/platform/sites/overview#bulk-import-sites) and [connections](/platform/data-input/connections#bulk-import-connections) before you upload.
</Tip>

## Migrating from another provider?

If you're moving from a spreadsheet workflow, an energy services company, or a platform like ENGIE, Schneider Electric, or Arcadia, Nectar has provider-specific migration guides that map your existing data model to Nectar's structure.

<Card title="Migration guides" icon="arrow-right-left" href="/platform/onboarding/overview">
  Step-by-step migration paths from 10+ providers, including data mapping, pilot workflows, and
  cutover checklists.
</Card>

## Who uses Nectar?

**Energy brokers and consultants** manage utility data across hundreds of client sites. Instead of asking each client to email their bills every month, they connect the accounts in Nectar and the data flows automatically. That means less chasing, fewer spreadsheet errors, and more time for actual consulting.

**Carbon accounting platforms** need standardized usage data to calculate emissions and produce ESG reports. Nectar feeds clean, structured utility data directly into their systems through the API, eliminating manual data entry and the errors that come with it.

**Enterprises** with large facility portfolios use Nectar for CDP disclosures, sustainability reporting, and operational efficiency tracking. One dashboard for every building, every utility type, every month.

## Navigating the platform

The Nectar platform is organized into clear sections, accessible from the sidebar on the left side of the screen. You don't need to memorize everything — just know that the sidebar is always there, and here's a quick map of what you'll find in each section:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Dashboard" icon="gauge" href="/platform/dashboard">
    Key stats, issues that need attention, and recent activity.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Data Input" icon="plug" href="/platform/data-input/overview">
    Create [connections](/platform/glossary#connection), upload bills, enter data manually, and
    send [invitations](/platform/glossary#invitation).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Data Inventory" icon="database" href="/platform/data-inventory/overview">
    Browse and edit [bills](/platform/glossary#bill), [accounts](/platform/glossary#account),
    [meters](/platform/glossary#meter), and usage records.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Data Quality" icon="shield-check" href="/platform/data-quality/overview">
    Review [flagged issues](/platform/glossary#flagged-bill), [missing
    data](/platform/glossary#missing-data), and [anomalies](/platform/glossary#anomaly).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Data Export" icon="file-export" href="/platform/data-export/overview">
    Export usage and cost data as CSV, or push to integrations like Energy Star and Watershed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Analytics" icon="chart-line" href="/platform/analytics/overview">
    Visualize consumption trends, compare time periods, and break down by
    [commodity](/platform/glossary#commodity).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Sites" icon="location-dot" href="/platform/sites/overview">
    Organize buildings, track per-site completeness, and compare performance.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Settings" icon="gear" href="/platform/settings/overview">
    Manage companies, sites, users, [API keys](/platform/glossary#api-key), and [white-label
    branding](/platform/glossary#white-label).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Support tickets" icon="life-ring" href="/platform/support">
    See and reply to your support tickets, or submit a new one without leaving Nectar.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Tip>
  New to Nectar terminology? The [glossary](/platform/glossary) defines every term used across the
  platform and API.
</Tip>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How long until I see data after connecting a utility account?">
    Nectar typically completes the first data pull within a few days of setup. How much historical data you get depends on the data collection start date you chose and what the utility portal makes available — most portals keep 12 to 24 months of history.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What if I have multiple buildings?">
    That's exactly what Nectar is built for. Create a separate **site** for each building, then
    connect the utility accounts that serve those buildings. Nectar keeps everything organized by
    site, so you can view, compare, and export data for each location independently.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I set up many sites or accounts at once?">
    Yes — bulk-import [sites](/platform/sites/overview#bulk-import-sites) and
    [connections](/platform/data-input/connections#bulk-import-connections) from a CSV or Excel file,
    with inline validation before anything is created.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can different team members see different companies?">
    Yes. Nectar supports role-based access, so you can control which team members have access to which
    companies. This is especially useful for consultancies managing data on behalf of multiple
    clients. Talk to your account administrator or [open a support ticket](/platform/support) for setup help.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What utility types does Nectar support?">
    Nectar supports **electricity**, **natural gas**, **water**, **waste**, **fuel**, **solar**, and
    **district** utilities (steam, chilled water, hot water). If your utility type isn't listed, reach
    out to [support@nectarclimate.com](mailto:support@nectarclimate.com) — we're always expanding
    coverage.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do you support international utilities?">
    Yes. Nectar supports utility providers globally, including markets across North America, Europe,
    and Asia-Pacific. The platform handles international date formats, local units of measure, and
    non-roman character sets.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Are you SOC 2 compliant?">
    Yes. Nectar holds SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 certifications, monitored continuously through Vanta.
    All utility credentials are encrypted with AES-128 and stored securely. Contact
    [support@nectarclimate.com](mailto:support@nectarclimate.com) for the latest compliance report.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How does pricing work?">
    Nectar charges per document (bill) processed — whether it's collected automatically through a
    connection or uploaded manually. There are no per-seat charges. Contact
    [support@nectarclimate.com](mailto:support@nectarclimate.com) for a pricing conversation tailored
    to your volume.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I try Nectar for free?">
    Yes. Nectar offers a sandbox environment where you can explore the platform with sample data and
    test API integrations before going live. Contact
    [support@nectarclimate.com](mailto:support@nectarclimate.com) to request sandbox access, or see
    the [Sandbox testing guide](/developer-guide/sandbox-testing) for developer details.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What if Nectar doesn't support my utility company?">
    Reach out to [support@nectarclimate.com](mailto:support@nectarclimate.com) with the utility
    provider name and website URL. Nectar's team regularly adds new providers, and many requests are
    fulfilled within a few weeks. In the meantime, you can always [upload bills
    manually](/platform/data-input/uploads) to get the data into the system.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I get an API key?">
    Go to **Settings > Organization > API Keys** and create a new key. You'll need
    organization-level permissions. The key is shown only once, so copy it immediately. Then follow
    the [Developer guide](/developer-guide/for-developers) and [API getting started](/developer-guide/getting-started)
    for authentication instructions and code examples.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>