Energy Spreadsheets - being organised?

victor2

bagand96 said:

Quick question for those who have their own set up... And use absolute cell reference for tarrif rates... 

How do you handle when you change supplier or tarrif? Do you input new tarrif into new cell and change the formula $ reference? Or start a new sheet for each tarrif? 

Yes to the bit in bold. That way, the historical data remains intact.

bagand96

victor2 said:

bagand96 said:

Quick question for those who have their own set up... And use absolute cell reference for tarrif rates... 

How do you handle when you change supplier or tarrif? Do you input new tarrif into new cell and change the formula $ reference? Or start a new sheet for each tarrif? 

Yes to the bit in bold. That way, the historical data remains intact.

Thanks. Thought that would be the case, was just trying to get my head around the easiest way to do it all. 

Talldave

Another approach is just to use the actual values in the formula calculations. When the tarriff changes you simply change the formula in the appropriate row and copy that row from then onwards. There's then no risk of inadvertently using the wrong reference, but it's possibly less clear to the untrained eye! 

victor2

Or you can get more sophisticated and use a date controlled lookup. I do that for the gas CV. When the CV changes, I just add a new date and CV to the separate sheet I have for the CV and the formula automatically picks it up. The formula never has to change and I have a history of the CV variations readily available.

brewerdave

I've found that the simplest way when changing supplier(s) ,is to copy the sheet over to a new sheet, rename it ,delete the readings/dates and overwrite with new supplier/ tariff details. Takes literally two minutes. And as I said earlier ,I use an average value for CV as the difference is pennies even over several months.

matelodave

brewerdave said:

I've found that the simplest way when changing supplier(s) ,is to copy the sheet over to a new sheet, rename it ,delete the readings/dates and overwrite with new supplier/ tariff details. Takes literally two minutes. And as I said earlier ,I use an average value for CV as the difference is pennies even over several months.

I do the same (although I dont have to bother with the gas as we dont have any).

My supplier spreadsheet, which is updated every month when I read the meter and submit a reading sits in a folder with all the bills and any other relevant correspondence (welcome letters, T&C's, e-mails, monthly bills and statements etc).
I've got ten folders for ten different suppliers going back over ten years.so I've got a complete record should there be any query in the future.

It's also really helpful when a supplier goes bust as you know the exact state of your account when it happens and you have all the data to hand if or when the on-line account get's shut down.

jbuchanangb

I've got ten folders for ten different suppliers going back over ten years.so I've got a complete record should there be any query in the future.

Very thorough. I've only got the bills on my PC going back to when online paperless billing became the norm (March 2011), but my spreadsheet has everything in it from the year 1983. I have one for gas and one for electricity. Another for water. And one for council tax. I did keep one going for phone from 1983 to 2013 but it became very complicated with all the variations of broadband charges, call charges, inclusive packages etc. so I gave up. 

Another approach is just to use the actual values in the formula calculations. When the tariff changes you simply change the formula in the appropriate row and copy that row from then onwards. There's then no risk of inadvertently using the wrong reference, but it's possibly less clear to the untrained eye! 

I use this approach- embed the excluding VAT tariff to 4 places of decimals in the formulae.

JustAnotherSaver

tim_p said:

Take a look at an app (IOS only) called Meter Readings by Graham Haley.

Just found my old iPhone. Have downloaded this. Looks promising actually. I'll give it a whirl. Thanks for the suggestion.

tim_p

JustAnotherSaver said:

tim_p said:

Take a look at an app (IOS only) called Meter Readings by Graham Haley.

Just found my old iPhone. Have downloaded this. Looks promising actually. I'll give it a whirl. Thanks for the suggestion.

Never tried it on a phone (use an iPad) so hope all is well. Any questions get responded to quickly by the author but make sure you read any FAQs first! Takes a few days of readings to start showing useful stuff. 

JustAnotherSaver

tim_p said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

tim_p said:

Take a look at an app (IOS only) called Meter Readings by Graham Haley.

Just found my old iPhone. Have downloaded this. Looks promising actually. I'll give it a whirl. Thanks for the suggestion.

Never tried it on a phone (use an iPad) so hope all is well. Any questions get responded to quickly by the author but make sure you read any FAQs first! Takes a few days of readings to start showing useful stuff. 

Hmm this is maybe where i get caught out for not reading in to it more first.

"Few days"? You have to submit readings daily?

I know some have their spreadsheets broken down daily but i don't really want mine that detailed. I'd be happy with monthly.