Glossary
Utility and energy terms
This glossary defines the utility and energy terms on commercial bills, meter data files and emissions reports, from NMI and MIRN identifiers to network tariffs, loss factors and Scope 2 methods. Many come from Australia's National Electricity Market, where Utilified's coverage is deepest. Each entry links to the related Utilified product or a longer guide in Insights.
A
- Accumulation meter data
- Accumulation meter data is a running total of consumption read periodically, often once a quarter, so each read shows how much energy a site used between two dates but not when. It suits flat-rate billing, but it cannot show peaks, time-of-use patterns or demand, which is why interval data matters for commercial tariffs.
- Related:What Is Interval Meter Data?
- ASRS (Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards)
- The ASRS are Australia's adoption of the ISSB global baseline. AASB S2, the climate standard, is mandatory for in-scope entities and requires disclosure of climate risks, opportunities and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, while AASB S1 is voluntary. Reporting starts in groups, with Group 2 entities reporting for years from 1 July 2026.
- Related:ASRS vs TCFD vs GRI
B
- Bill audit
- A bill audit is a periodic, retrospective review of historical utility bills, usually commissioned as a one-off project to recover past overcharges. Because it looks back, the errors it finds have already been paid. Audits are useful for recovering refunds on that history, while ongoing invoice validation checks new bills before they are paid.
- Related:What Is Invoice Validation in Energy Management?
E
- Energy tender
- An energy tender is a structured procurement round where a broker or consultant invites retailers to price a client's supply. Sites are grouped into lots, retailers submit offers per lot, and the broker compares, recommends and awards. EMP, the Energy Marketplace, runs these tenders and is in pilot.
- Related:EMP
I
- Interval meter data
- Interval meter data records consumption in fixed, time-stamped blocks, typically every 5, 15 or 30 minutes, instead of one running total per billing period. It shows when a site used energy as well as how much, which explains time-of-use costs and demand charges. In the NEM it is usually delivered as NEM12 files.
- Related:What Is Interval Meter Data?
- Invoice validation
- Invoice validation is the ongoing check of each utility bill before payment against contracted rates, applicable tariffs and available meter data. Errors are flagged while they can still be disputed, and systematic errors are caught the first time they occur. In UMS, discrepancies go to a review queue with the source document alongside.
- Related:What Is Invoice Validation in Energy Management?UMS invoice validation
L
- Large-market and small-market supply
- Australian energy customers are split by annual consumption. Sites above their jurisdiction's threshold are large-market customers who negotiate contract terms, often through a tender, while small-market customers buy on standard or market retail offers. The EMP pilot currently runs NEM large-market electricity tenders, with small-market supply shown as coming soon.
- Related:EMPEnergy Procurement for Large Business in Australia
- Loss factors
- Loss factors adjust metered electricity consumption for the energy lost as power travels across the transmission and distribution networks to a site. They sit alongside energy rates, network charges, demand charges and metering fees on a commercial bill, so validating an invoice means checking the right factors were applied to each connection.
- Related:How to Validate Commercial Energy Invoices in Australia
M
- Managed connection
- A managed connection is a metering point, such as an NMI or MIRN, with anything linked to it in UMS: a site, meter, invoice, agreement or retail account. Utilified prices plans by managed connection. Connections imported on their own, with nothing linked, stay inactive and aren't billed; linking its site is enough to make one managed.
- Related:Pricing
- MCP (Model Context Protocol)
- MCP is an open standard that lets AI assistants such as Claude call tools in other systems. The Utilified MCP server connects an assistant to your UMS data: it signs in as you and sees only what you can see. Tools come in groups such as billing, portfolio and sustainability, so you connect only what you use.
- Related:Joule
- MIRN and DPI
- A MIRN (Meter Installation Registration Number) is the gas equivalent of an NMI, identifying a gas connection point. Victoria, Queensland and South Australia use the term MIRN, while New South Wales and the ACT call the same identifier a DPI (Delivery Point Identifier). Both start with 5, are allocated by the gas distributor and stay with the connection.
- Related:What Are NMI and MIRN Numbers?
N
- NABERS
- NABERS, the National Australian Built Environment Rating System, is a government-backed scheme that rates the environmental performance of Australian buildings. Energy and water ratings use 12 months of measured consumption. Accredited assessors prepare rating applications, which NABERS checks and certifies, and operational ratings are generally valid for 12 months.
- Related:What Is NABERS?
- NEM (National Electricity Market)
- The NEM is the interconnected wholesale electricity market and grid covering Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, operated by AEMO. Western Australia runs a separate market, the WEM. NEM rules shape the identifiers, interval data files, network tariffs and loss factors that appear on a commercial electricity bill.
- Related:What Is Interval Meter Data?
- Network tariff
- A network tariff is the price structure a distribution network business charges for delivering electricity to a site, shown on the bill as network use of system (NUOS) charges. It can combine fixed, usage, time-of-use and demand components, and network charges are a large share of a typical Australian commercial electricity bill.
- Related:Electricity Tariff Optimisation in AustraliaUMS tariffs
- NGER (National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting)
- NGER is Australia's mandatory scheme for reporting greenhouse gas emissions, energy production and energy consumption. It runs under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007, is administered by the Clean Energy Regulator and applies to corporate groups that cross defined emissions or energy thresholds. Reports draw heavily on utility consumption data.
- Related:What Is NGER Reporting?
- NMI (National Metering Identifier)
- An NMI is the unique code that identifies an electricity connection point in Australia's National Electricity Market. The local distributor allocates it and AEMO's MSATS registry records it. It identifies the connection, not the meter, stays with the site when you change retailer, and ends in a check digit that helps catch data-entry mistakes.
- Related:What Are NMI and MIRN Numbers?
P
- Payment file
- A payment file is the batch of approved invoices that a bank or ERP system imports to pay suppliers. UMS prepares payment files in ABA, SAP journal, AU_STD and CSV formats, with approvals, cost-centre codes and site-level cost splits. Bank settlement and general accounting stay in your existing bank and accounting systems.
- Related:UMS payment files
S
- Scope 2 emissions (location-based and market-based)
- Scope 2 emissions come from the electricity an organisation buys. The location-based method applies average grid emission factors for the state where consumption occurs. The market-based method applies factors from the electricity products and contractual instruments the organisation has chosen to buy. The first shows the physical grid impact of consumption, the second the effect of procurement choices.
- Related:Scope 2 Emissions Reporting in Australia
U
- UPI (Utilified Programming Interface)
- UPI, the Utilified Programming Interface, is the API foundation underneath UMS, UMS Portal, Joule and the EMP pilot. It supports data exchange with other systems, but it is a platform foundation rather than a product sold on its own, and a specific provider integration is confirmed with our team rather than assumed.
- Related:Products
W
- White-label client portal
- A white-label client portal is a branded, client-facing view of utility data that a consultant or broker runs under their own name on a platform they don't build. UMS Portal works this way: your brand and domain, with each client seeing only the accounts, sites, features and reports you choose to share.
- Related:What Is a White-Label Energy Portal?UMS Portal