01 / Boundary
Whole-building begins with a complete meter map.
Identify the exact building, floor area, uses, meters and service areas. Separate tenant-direct accounts, landlord-paid common areas, owner-recovered utilities, submeters and shared plant. A partial bill set cannot establish whole-building consumption.
Use only an internal property or meter reference in the workpaper. Do not enter full account numbers, login credentials, banking details or tenant personal information.
02 / Source
Preserve the bill before creating the summary.
Record the exact period, original consumption unit, read status, demand, fixed and variable charges, taxes, credits and total cost. Label estimates, gaps, overlaps, replacements and true-ups instead of silently normalizing them.
Cost and consumption answer different questions. Tariffs, commodity, delivery, demand, tax and contract changes can move cost without the same movement in energy use.
03 / Context
A changed operation can look like a better building.
Link each reporting period to occupancy, vacancy, tenant turnover, hours, production, refrigeration, kitchens, shutdowns, renovation, equipment failure and material weather events. A reduction during vacancy is not proof of an efficiency improvement.
NRCan's Portfolio Manager supports consistent Canadian benchmarking, but the metric still depends on accurate area, property-use, meter and operating inputs. Keep raw data, platform output and professional conclusions separate.
04 / Interpretation
The register organizes evidence. It does not audit it.
User-entered status counts do not validate bills, meters, area, energy-use intensity, weather normalization, emissions, savings or future cost. Assign every material anomaly to the utility, owner, tenant, operator or qualified energy professional.
Commercially coordinates licensed real-estate search, disclosure and transaction evidence. It does not certify building performance, design retrofits, calculate emissions, verify funding eligibility or provide engineering, utility, tax, legal, lending or valuation advice.