> ## 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.
# Data collection settings
> Company-level controls for data collection, cost tracking, bill issue detection, and anomaly detection.
Need help in this area? See [Settings FAQ](/platform/settings/faq).
Navigate to [**Settings**](https://dash.nectarclimate.com/settings/company/data) > **Company** to configure how data is collected, validated, and displayed for the selected company. Company admins can edit these pages; other members generally cannot access **Company** settings unless they are site-only members with access to **Sites**.
If you manage multiple companies, use the company switcher in the sidebar first.
This page documents **Data Collection**, **Bill Issues**, and **Anomaly Detection** — the three settings areas that control ingestion defaults and automated quality checks.
***
## Data Collection page
Open **Settings** > **Company** > **Data Collection**.
The page is organized into **four cards**. Each card is its own form with separate **Save changes** and **Reset** actions — saving one card does not save the others.
### Meter tags
**Meter tags** are company-defined labels for organizing [meters](/platform/glossary#meter).
* Existing tags appear as badges at the top of the card
* Click **Manage tags** to create, rename, or delete tags
* Assign tags from a meter's edit form or in bulk from the [meters table](/platform/data-inventory/meters)
* Tags appear in meter filters (for example **Settings** > **Company** > **Data** meter tag filter on the meters inventory page)
Tags do not change how bills are parsed. They help you filter and report after data arrives.
### Collection rules
Collection rules control ingestion behavior, processing speed, and which optional fields appear company-wide.
| Setting | What it does |
| ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Site permissioning** | Enables per-site access restrictions for company members. When on, assign site access on **Settings** > **Company** > **Members**. |
| **Demand meters** | Enables demand meter fields on electricity bills and related workflows. Turn on when your bills include peak demand (kW) you want to capture. |
| **Basic identifier mapping** | Restricts identifier mapping to basic types during data review for simpler matching. |
| **Expedited document processing** | Speeds up document processing by skipping some validation checks. |
| **Connection credential visibility** | When enabled, users with connection access can view usernames and passwords. When disabled, credentials are obfuscated. |
| **Cost tracking** | Shows or hides cost values across the platform. See [Cost tracking](#cost-tracking) below. |
#### Implied metering for wastewater
When a utility bill has water usage but no separate sewer reading, Nectar can estimate wastewater usage from water usage.
| Control | What it does |
| ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Enable implied metering** | Turns implied sewer estimation on or off company-wide |
| **Implied metering fraction** | Number from 0 to 1 multiplied against water usage (for example, `1.0` treats 100% of water as sewer) |
Example: 1,000 gallons of water with fraction `1.0` creates an estimated 1,000 gallons of sewer usage.
See [Implied metering](/platform/methodology/edge-cases#implied-metering) for methodology.
### Cost tracking
The **Cost tracking** toggle is on by default. It is saved with the **Collection rules** card.
When **on**, you typically see:
* **Total charges** on bills in [Data Inventory](/platform/data-inventory/bills) and on bill detail views
* Charge and line-item fields in [manual entry](/platform/data-input/manual-entry) (total charges, tax, credits, line items, and related review fields)
* The **Cost** subtab on site dashboards
* **Cost Management** in the sidebar (when your subscription includes cost analytics)
* The **Export Cost Data** card on [Data Export](/platform/data-export/overview)
When **off**, Nectar emphasizes usage, demand, and emissions:
* Cost columns, cost subtabs, and cost navigation entries are hidden
* Manual entry skips charge and line-item steps; submitted bills omit line items even if you had started a draft with them
* Usage data, demand meters (when enabled), and emissions workflows continue unchanged
Disabling cost tracking does **not** delete charges already stored on bills. Re-enable the toggle to restore cost UI.
Turn cost tracking off when your company only needs consumption or emissions reporting and does not want dollar amounts in the platform.
Some cost analytics capabilities also depend on your subscription. If cost features are missing after enabling the toggle, email [support@nectarclimate.com](mailto:support@nectarclimate.com).
### Dates and forwarding
| Setting | What it does |
| ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Data collection start month** | Company-wide baseline for how far back Nectar collects historical bills. New [connections](/platform/data-input/connections) inherit this default unless you set a different start date on the connection or account. |
| **Bill forwarding emails** | Up to **10** addresses that receive copies of newly processed bill documents. |
#### Confirming a start-month change
If you change the **Data collection start month** from an existing value, Nectar shows a confirmation dialog before saving:
* **Moving earlier** — Nectar warns that additional historical data may be processed, which can affect billing usage.
* **Moving later** — Nectar explains that collection applies from the new month forward; existing historical data is not deleted.
Connection-level and account-level start dates override this company default when set. See [Data collection start date](/platform/data-input/connections#data-collection-start-date).
### Default units
Choose the display unit for each utility type. Usage values are converted to these units in tables, exports, and analytics.
| Field | Default (US) |
| -------------------- | ------------ |
| **Electricity unit** | kWh |
| **Gas unit** | therms (US) |
| **Water unit** | gallons (US) |
| **Fuel unit** | gallons (US) |
| **Waste unit** | tons (US) |
Bills may still store native units from the utility; these settings control normalized display.
***
Bill issue settings
Open **Settings** > **Company** > **Bill Issues**.
This page controls which [data quality issues](/platform/data-quality/issues) Nectar detects on **newly processed** bills. Use it to reduce noise from issue types your team routinely accepts.
Changes apply to **future detection only**. Open issues already in your triage inbox are not removed when you change defaults or add suppression rules.
The page has two sections: **Company defaults** and **Custom suppression rules**.
### Company defaults
A table lists every **suppressible** issue type with a **Detect** switch per row.
* **Detect on** — Nectar flags this issue type on new bills (subject to any narrower suppression rule below)
* **Detect off** — Nectar skips this issue type company-wide unless a custom rule says otherwise
Issue types you can toggle include:
| Category | Issue types |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Action required** | Potential duplicate, Potential usage duplicate, Non-utility bill, No usage data, Illegible bill, Other issue |
| **Review and verify** | Low confidence container size, Low confidence date, Low confidence units, Low confidence site match, Low confidence address |
Two issue types **cannot** be turned off at the company level because they indicate data integrity problems that must surface:
* **Unmatched account**
* **Account/meter mismatch**
For full definitions, see [Issues — issue types](/platform/data-quality/issues#issue-types) or the [glossary](/platform/glossary).
### Custom suppression rules
When a single utility provider, connection, or account should ignore one issue type, add a **custom suppression rule**:
Click **Add rule** in the **Custom suppression rules** section.
Pick **Utility provider**, **Connection**, or **Account**, then select the specific entity.
Choose which issue type to suppress for that entity. The rule turns detection **off** for that type only.
Click **Add rule**. The row shows the entity, scope, and which issue type is off. Delete a rule anytime from the row action.
**Inheritance:** Bills follow company defaults everywhere except where a custom rule overrides a specific `(entity, issue type)` pair.
Triage open issues from [Data Quality > Issues](/platform/data-quality/issues).
***
Anomaly detection settings
Open [**Settings > Company > Data Quality > Anomaly detection**](https://dash.nectarclimate.com/settings/company/data-quality/anomaly-detection).
### Master toggle
The card header contains **Enable anomaly detection**.
* **Off** — No detection runs, and the type list is hidden.
* **On** — Nectar checks your data automatically every day and surfaces results in your [Data Quality inbox](/platform/data-quality/issues). You can also run a check on demand from the inbox.
### Choosing what to detect
When detection is enabled, you'll see a row for each anomaly type:
| Type | What it flags |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Usage anomaly** | Unusually high or low consumption for a site and commodity |
| **Cost anomaly** | Unusually high monthly cost for a site and commodity |
| **Unit-price anomaly** | Unusually high effective price per unit (for example, \$/kWh) |
| **Interest charges** | Interest, late, or penalty charges on an account's bills |
| **High demand charges** | Unusually high electricity demand charges on an account |
Click a type to enable it and adjust its settings — typically a **sensitivity** level (Low, Medium, High) and a few type-specific options (for example, a minimum dollar amount for interest charges). Each type applies **company-wide**; there are no per-site settings. Click the trash icon on a row to turn that type back off.
For a fuller walkthrough of each type and how to act on results, see [Anomalies](/platform/data-quality/anomalies).
***
## How these settings work together
```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
subgraph ingest [Ingestion]
DC[Data Collection defaults]
Conn[Connection / account overrides]
end
subgraph quality [Quality checks]
BI[Bill issue detection]
AD[Anomaly detection]
end
subgraph display [Display]
CT[Cost tracking toggle]
end
DC --> Conn
Conn --> BI
Conn --> AD
DC --> CT
BI --> Triage[Data Quality inbox]
AD --> Triage
```
* **Data collection start month** and **default units** shape what is collected and how usage is shown
* **Bill issue settings** control which parsing and matching problems create triage items
* **Anomaly detection settings** control which unusual usage, cost, and billing patterns are surfaced after data is in the platform
* **Cost tracking** controls whether financial fields appear in inventory, entry, exports, and analytics — independent of usage collection
***
## Frequently asked questions
Company admins (manage-company permission) can edit **Data Collection**, **Bill Issues**, and **Anomaly Detection**. Organization admins switch companies from the sidebar and configure each company separately.
Meter tags, collection rules, dates and forwarding, and default units are separate forms. Each must be saved independently so partial updates do not overwrite unrelated fields.
Cost columns, cost navigation, cost subtabs, manual entry charge fields, and the cost export card are hidden. Usage and emissions workflows continue. Stored charges are not deleted.
Yes. Leave the company default on, then add a **custom suppression rule** scoped to that utility provider with issue type **Low confidence date**.
No. Suppression affects **new** detection only. Resolve or dismiss existing items from [Data Quality > Issues](/platform/data-quality/issues).
In your [Data Quality inbox](/platform/data-quality/issues), alongside other data quality items. There's no separate anomalies page. See [Anomalies](/platform/data-quality/anomalies).
**See also:** [Company settings](/platform/settings/company-settings), [Issues](/platform/data-quality/issues), [Anomalies](/platform/data-quality/anomalies), [Connections — configuration](/platform/data-input/connections#configuration-settings-explained)