Many buildings will be able to retrieve electric and water utility data electronically. This can simplify the process of benchmarking by avoiding the need to collect bills and enter data manually. If a building has several separately metered tenants, retrieving this data from the electric utility may require tenant authorization. Atlanta City Ordinance 15-O-1101 requires tenants to comply with such requests from a building owner within 30 days.
Utility data can be retrieved electronically for Georgia Power, City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management and many natural gas providers. Electronic data retrieval is recommended to setup a Portfolio Manager account for the first time or maintain accounts for multiple properties.
1. Retrieve Electricity Data from Georgia Power
1a. Single Tenant Buildings
Commercial billing data from Georgia Power can be retrieved on the EnergyDirect website. To access your data you will need the Account Number and Web Access Code found on your Georgia Power bill (in green).
In a web browser, open the website energydirect.com. Click Log In.
- If you have an existing account, enter your username and password.
- To create an account, click New user.
After registering for an account, enter your username and password.
Click Add Account link on the right side of the screen.
Enter the Account Number and Web Access Code from your Georgia Power bill and click next.
It is recommended that the “Account Description” is set to match the name of the building or space served by the meter. Click “Save” to save and access the account.
**Note that the same utility meter can be saved to multiple user accounts.
The utility bills for the selected meter will be displayed for the most recent 12 months. Change the Time Period displayed by changing the “Start” and “Stop” fields to match your desired selection. Click “Submit” to display the desired selection.
You now have access to your electricity bills. Highlight the table, copy and paste the selected data into a spreadsheet to capture and manipulate the data.
Format the electronic data for use with Portfolio Manager. Save this spreadsheet for future use, since the formatting process will be exactly the same.
2. Retrieve Water Data from City of Atlanta
Up to one year of water consumption history can be retrieved electronically from the City of Atlanta WebConnect! Website. To retrieve older data, contact your customer representative and ask that they send consumption and billing data beginning on or before your preferred date to current in spreadsheet form.
To access your water consumption data, you will need to create an account. If you already have an account, click Sign In and proceed to step 4.
To create an account, please gather the following items:
- Account Number
- Zip Code for the account service address
- Last 4 digits of the company Tax Identification Number or the last 4 digits of the account holder’s Social Security Number.
After gathering these items, click Create Account to get started.
Step 2 – Enter the account number from a water bill into the field and click Continue.
Step 3 – Enter the last four digits of the Tax ID Number (TIN) and account Zip Code. Complete the other required fields and click Continue.
Step 4 – Select Consumption History from the menu on the left to view the water and sewage consumption for each of your accounts.
Step 5 – Ensure that the account in the drop down menu next to the Account Number field shows the account for which you wish to retrieve water consumption history. If not, click on the drop down menu to select the desired account.
Download the water consumption history as a spreadsheet by clicking Export to Excel. Note that the Sewer consumption does not need to be tracked in Portfolio Manager. Also, the cost information is not shown in the consumption history table.
Step 6 – Click on Billing Details on the menu to the left. Ensure that the desired account is selected from the drop down menu next to Account Number. Download the water cost history to a spreadsheet by clicking Export to Excel and you are all done (see below in green).
Atlanta Building Efficiency 