Use one row for one fuel, one meter and one period at one site. Keep the unit on the meter separate from billed kilowatt-hours. A reading-derived kilowatt-hour figure exists only when the register is documented in kilowatt-hours and the multiplier is copied from that document. A cubic-metre or cubic-foot reading stays volume, even when the bill also prints kilowatt-hours. Copy billed gas kilowatt-hours. Do not convert volume yourself. A weather or occupancy note does not change either figure.

Copy one electricity bill before treating its kilowatt-hours as measured. Record the visual walk without turning it into a kilowatt-hour total. Read the green claims guide before describing the log as a cut in energy use.

What one row is allowed to say

A completed row is a record. It is not a saving, a target or a reporting total.

reading_derived_kwh is calculated only when register_documented is kwh_unscaled or kwh_with_multiplier, reading_type is actual, both readings are finite numbers, the closing reading is not lower than the opening reading, and meter_multiplier is copied from the document. A documented unscaled kilowatt-hour register may use factor 1. A blank or unknown multiplier stays blank. It does not become 1.

billed_kwh is copied from the bill for that meter and period. An estimated or mixed bill can fill billed_kwh and cannot fill reading_derived_kwh.

consumption_basis is metered_actual, billed_actual, billed_estimated or billed_mixed only when the matching quantity is present. If the quantity you intended is missing, use missing_quantity. Do not store a missing quantity as if it were a complete measurement.

Fill in the manual log

Download both files. Save a copy of the blank log and type into that copy. Use the example only as a labelled pattern.

The files are plain CSV. You type every cell. You do the arithmetic. The spreadsheet does not calculate a row and it does not reject a typed value.

The same blank fields are:

site_name, fuel, meter_id, reading_unit, register_documented, period_start, period_end, date_role, opening_reading_date, closing_reading_date, reading_type, opening_reading, closing_reading, meter_multiplier, reading_derived_kwh, billed_kwh, consumption_basis, coverage_gap, weather_note, occupancy_note, row_status and comparison_status.

fuel is electricity or gas. reading_unit is kWh, m3, ft3 or other. register_documented is kwh_unscaled, kwh_with_multiplier, volume or unknown. date_role is billing_period_label when the dates name the printed billing period, or reading_instant when they are the instants of the readings. Keep those two meanings apart.

Periods, gaps, completeness and comparison

Both period dates are required before a row can be recorded. period_end must be on or after period_start. A missing endpoint is missing_period and both quantity cells stay blank.

Use the rule that matches date_role. A billing_period_label of 1 March to 30 March is 30 inclusive billed days, matching the published fictional bill. A reading_instant pair uses elapsed time: the closing reading date minus the opening reading date. Adjacent readings that share an endpoint are not overlapping. Do not treat those shared instants as an inclusive billing label.

Repeated or overlapping dates can still be recorded if the row itself is complete. Mark comparison_status as overlapping. coverage_gap is yes when dates between two recorded periods are not in any row. Those missing dates are not entered as zero.

row_status records whether one row is complete. comparison_status records whether a pair is suitable for a raw-use comparison. One complete row can belong to an unsuitable pair.

A pair is comparable only when site, fuel, meter, reading unit and consumption basis match, the dates do not overlap under that row’s date-role rule, the duration counts used for that role differ by at most one day, and coverage_gap is no on both rows. Matching units and non-overlapping dates are not enough. Differing weather or occupancy stays in the notes. Do not read those notes as an efficiency improvement.

Worked example: a fictional office

Northgate Studio is fictional. It is the same invented office as the published bill example.

Row What was written Status
February electricity Meter FIC-000. Billed 1 to 28 February 2026, 28 inclusive days. Reading instants 1 February to 1 March, 28 elapsed days. Actual readings 1000.0 to 1400.0 on an unscaled kilowatt-hour register. Multiplier 1 copied from that register. 400.00 derived kilowatt-hours and 400.00 billed kilowatt-hours. recorded. Basis metered_actual.
March electricity Billed 1 to 30 March 2026, 30 inclusive days, matching the published fictional bill. Estimated bill. Derived kilowatt-hours blank. Billed 400.00 copied from that bill. Weather note: colder week. recorded. Basis billed_estimated. Not comparable with February: the bases differ and the billed day counts are 28 and 30. The weather note leaves 400.00 unchanged.
February gas Meter FIC-GAS. Billed 1 to 28 February 2026. Reading instants 1 February to 1 March. Reading unit cubic metres. Register documented as volume. Readings 120.0 to 145.0. Derived kilowatt-hours blank. Billed 850.00 copied from the bill. recorded. Basis billed_actual. The cubic metres were not converted.
May electricity Billed 1 to 31 May 2026, 31 inclusive days. Reading instants 1 May to 1 June, 31 elapsed days. Actual unscaled kilowatt-hour readings 1800.0 to 2200.0. 400.00 derived and billed. Coverage gap yes because April has no row. recorded. April is not stored as zero. Electricity and gas are not added.
June and July readings Reading instants 1 June to 1 July and 1 July to 1 August. They share 1 July. Actual readings 2200.0 to 2600.0 then 2600.0 to 3000.0. The shared 1 July endpoint is not overlapping. Elapsed days are 30 and 31.

Limits

A completed row is not a SECR total. The March 2019 environmental reporting guidelines describe direct comparison, pro-rata and benchmarking as estimation methods that remain estimates. This sheet does not perform those estimates. A weather note is not a degree-day adjustment.

Before you describe the log as a cut in energy use, read the green claims guide.

Sources