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Usage estimation is an optional module enabled for selected companies.
Need help in this area? See Settings FAQ.
Configure how Nectar fills missing site-level commodity usage when bills are not available. Rules are site-specific and commodity-specific — electricity at one warehouse can use different methods than gas at the same site. Open Settings > Company > Sites, select a site, and open the Estimation rules tab. Company admins with the usage estimation module see this tab; other users may see estimation labels in completeness or analytics without access to edit rules. See also: Usage estimation, Data completeness

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Enable estimation for a utility type

Each utility type at the site has its own sub-tab (electricity, gas, water, and so on). For the active commodity:
  1. Choose a starting preset or build a custom estimation waterfall, then click Save changes.
  2. Toggle estimation On for that commodity when you are ready for fills to run.
Methods in the waterfall are attempted from top to bottom until one can fill the gap. Disabled or empty waterfalls do not produce fills. Nothing is saved until you click Save changes. Unsaved edits disable Run site estimations until you save or reset.

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Rule types and ordering

Each rule is one method with optional parameters (for example, a mirror site or a constant EUI). Methods run in list order until one produces a fill for the gap. Reorder rules in the UI; lower rows are fallbacks. See the method catalog in site settings for labels and parameter help. Common methods include preceding period, last-year period, rolling average, EUI peer group, mirror site, and constant EUI.

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EUI peer group — peer usage window

The EUI peer group method compares the target site to peers (by tag, explicit site list, or site path) and derives a fill from their recent intensity. In addition to peer grouping, you choose a peer usage window — which months of collected usage feed that comparison.

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Five window choices

Trailing months is the default when no window is saved. Period windows (quarter or year) use the gap’s start date to pick the matching calendar or financial period — they do not use Lookback months. Financial quarter and financial year follow your company’s fiscal year start month on Settings > Company > General. Calendar and financial options both appear even when your fiscal year starts in January.

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How peers and the target site contribute

Within the chosen window, each peer site and the target site itself contribute based on the actual days they have collected usage in that window — not on calendar months with missing data. Sites without floor area or without any covered days in the window are skipped. If no site contributes, the rule fails and Nectar tries the next method in the list. Nectar never uses another site’s persisted estimation fills as peer input — only collected usage counts.

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Gaps that cross period boundaries

For Same calendar quarter/year or Same financial quarter/year, a single gap that spans two periods is split at the boundary. Each piece is filled using that piece’s period window. If any piece cannot be filled, Nectar does not write a partial fill for that gap and moves to the next rule instead.

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When fills change after you edit rules

Changing the peer usage window, lookback months, peer grouping, or company fiscal year start can change fill amounts on the next refresh — including for gaps that were filled under Trailing months before. Saved rules take effect on the next daily run or when you click Run site estimations. Rerun after changing fiscal year start or EUI peer group settings so fills stay aligned with your configuration.

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Automatic daily refresh

When estimation is enabled for a utility type, Nectar refreshes its fills automatically each day at 12:00 AM UTC. That schedule is the main reconciliation mechanism when new bills arrive or gaps close. The Last refreshed timestamp on completeness Estimation details reflects when fills for that site and commodity were last updated.

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Run site estimations (manual rerun)

Click Run site estimations to queue an immediate refresh for every enabled utility type at the current site. Use this when:
  • Completeness or analytics shows a stale overlap warning after new bills arrived
  • You changed waterfall methods and want fills regenerated without waiting for midnight UTC
  • A month still shows Estimated but you expect fills to reflect recent uploads
The button is disabled while unsaved rule changes are on the page or while a run is already queuing. Manual rerun is the user-controlled counterpart to the daily schedule. It does not clip or deduplicate existing fills at click time — the estimation service produces updated snapshots.

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Stale overlap warnings

If collected usage and a persisted fill cover the same days before the next refresh, the platform shows a warning such as:
Estimated usage overlaps collected usage for this period. The estimate may be stale because new data arrived after the last estimation run. Rerun estimation in Site settings to refresh the fill.
Treat this as a prompt to rerun estimation — not as confirmation that your source data is wrong. Overlap between runs is normal. Combined analytics totals stay additive until refresh reconciles fills. After Run site estimations completes successfully, overlap warnings should clear for reconciled periods. If warnings persist after a successful run, contact [email protected].

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Who can configure rules

Usage estimation rules require company admin access and the module enabled for your company. Users who can view a site can read Estimation details on completeness Estimated cells; Configure rules links appear only when you can edit settings. Viewers without admin access cannot save waterfalls or run estimations.