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Operations → Utilities → /utilities · Operations → Smart Meters → /iot Utilities are billed from consumption: a reading is taken, consumption is derived, a tariff converts it to money, and a billing run turns it into invoices. Whether the reading comes from a person with a clipboard or a connected meter, the rest of the chain is the same.

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The two surfaces

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The IoT workspace

The smart-meter dashboard is built around the operational cycle rather than around database tables. It shows:
  • a health banner — whether polling, consumption and billing are currently healthy;
  • workspace cards for each stage of the cycle, with the guided playbook for that stage;
  • shortcuts into the tab where the work is done.
Each stage has its own guide — the IoT playbooks in the sidebar. They are written as procedures, not reference: what to do, in what order, and how to tell you are done.

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The utility billing cycle

1

Set up meters

Assign meters to units, with vendor credentials configured. See Smart meters setup.
2

Configure tariffs

The rate structure that converts consumption to money. See Tariffs.
3

Collect readings

Poll meters, or enter readings manually. Check for stale, missing or outlier values before going further. See Meter readings.
4

Derive consumption

The difference between readings, after quality checks. Fix reading problems here, not after invoices exist. See Consumption.
5

Run billing

Turn the period’s consumption into invoices. See Billing runs and Billing run items.
6

Review run items before posting

Per-unit items are inspectable before and after posting. A bad tariff or a misassigned meter is obvious here and expensive later.
Never run billing over a period with unresolved reading quality issues. An invoice built on an outlier reading is a credit note, a tenant dispute and a lost afternoon.

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Monitoring

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Arrears enforcement

Where enabled, unpaid utility balances can drive an enforcement ladder:
The engine holds its own safety invariants: both warnings must be provably sent, a grace period must elapse, and the balance is re-checked immediately before any disconnect. It defaults to shadow mode, staging actions for a human to confirm rather than acting alone. Enforcement creates real invoices for any reconnection charges, so the money side flows through normal billing rather than a side channel.
Collections can hand a case to IoT enforcement as a ladder step, but it never drives valves itself — the IoT engine owns that state machine, and the collections case mirrors its events read-only.

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Utilities without smart meters

The manual path is the same cycle without the polling:
1

Record the reading

Enter the current reading per unit and period; the previous reading is already held.
2

Check consumption

A consumption figure far outside the unit’s history is usually a transcription error, a meter rollover, or a leak — all worth catching before billing.
3

Bill

Consumption is priced by tariff and billed as an invoice line against the lease’s utility service type.
Readings can also be imported in bulk — Admin → Bulk Upload with the Utility Readings type. See Bulk upload.

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Common problems

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Next steps

IoT playbooks

Step-by-step procedures for each stage of the cycle.

Invoices

What a billing run produces.