Annual statement of the site

Annual Statement of the Site

When the owner mandates Climkit to manage billing and collections from the consumers at their site, Climkit establishes an annual statement for the entire site.

This FAQ provides a quick understanding of how it works. Here is a glossary of the main terms used:

• Site: building or group of buildings for which Climkit provides metering and energy accounting services.
• Owner: site manager who mandates Climkit to manage the metering and billing of energy for their site. Sometimes, the owner is represented by a property management company.
• Consumers: tenants or co-owners residing at the site who consume energy.
• Supplier: Distribution system operator (DSO) or other external service provider supplying electricity or a service to the site.

What is Climkit's mandate?

The owner mandates Climkit to manage metering, billing, and collections on their behalf from the consumers at their site.

Climkit also pays the electricity bills of the site's suppliers (DSO and photovoltaic contractors).

How is the annual statement of the site established?

Climkit establishes an annual statement for the previous year for the entire site.

The annual statement calculates the difference between all collections received from consumers and the disbursements made to suppliers.

In the context of a self-consumption grouping (RCP), the difference generally favors the owner and corresponds to the sale of self-consumed solar electricity to consumers as well as surplus injected into the grid and repurchased by the distributor.

When is the annual statement established?

Between April and June of the following year, in order to wait for the collection of the consumer invoices sent in January for the last months of the year.

How is the owner compensated?

The owner has 15 days after receipt to contest the statement. Without contestation, the amount in their favor is paid into the bank account provided to Climkit within 30 days following the sending of the statement.

In the case of a balance in favor of Climkit, the owner has 30 days to pay the amount owed via the invoice attached to the statement.

What does the statement look like?

The annual statement indicates the difference between all collections received and all disbursements paid for the site during the indicated period of the statement. It is divided into four sections:

1. Details of Collections: amounts received from consumers, the credit notes from suppliers, and any positive balance from the previous year's statement.
2. Details of Disbursements: bills paid to suppliers including those from the distribution system operator (DSO) and Climkit for management fees, and any negative balance from the previous year's statement.
3. Open Amounts: consumer invoices still unpaid to date for the period of this statement.
4. Abandoned Amounts: consumer invoices unpaid from years prior to the period of this statement and considered as lost. As the owner, you are free to undertake recovery actions directly with the consumers.

Only the first two sections are considered in calculating the balance.

What do collections consist of?

1. All payments of invoices by consumers such as their electricity consumption or their use of charging points.
2. Credit notes from suppliers in cases where they pay an amount in favor of the site. For example, DSOs that compensate the injection of surplus photovoltaic into the grid.
3. Any positive balance in favor of the owner carried over from the previous year's statement.

What do disbursements consist of?

1. Bills paid to suppliers including those from the distribution system operator (DSO) for electricity withdrawn from the grid or a potential third-party contractor for photovoltaic production.
2. Invoices from Climkit for all management fees (metering, billing, sending fees, internet connection, etc.).
3. Any negative balance owed by the owner supplemented by the previous year's statement.

Where can the invoices and documents referenced in the statement be found?

All invoices and corresponding documents are available on Climkit's online portal under the Finance tab of the site.

What about unpaid invoices?

All invoices sent to consumers that have not yet been paid appear in the Open Amounts section of the statement for information purposes.

When these invoices are settled, the annual statement will be updated to reflect these new collections, and the positive balance in favor of the owner will be carried over to the following year's statement. All consumer invoices and their payment status are accessible on Climkit's online portal.

Example: The statement for the year 2022 shows a balance in favor of the owner of CHF 2,500.-. However, there is an unpaid invoice from a consumer for an amount of CHF 180.-. Climkit pays CHF 2,500.- to the owner on May 25, 2023. On July 17, 2023, the consumer finally pays their invoice of CHF 180.-. The 2022 statement is updated and indicates a balance in favor of the owner of CHF 180.-. This amount will be carried over to the 2023 statement.

In what case is an invoice considered abandoned?

Any unpaid invoice despite three reminders sent to the consumer and dated more than a year before the issuance of the annual statement is considered abandoned.

The abandoned invoice is mentioned in the Abandoned Amounts section of the annual statement. It is now up to the owner to undertake any collection actions with the consumer concerned to obtain the payment due.

Example: At the time of establishing the annual statement for 2022, a consumer invoice of CHF 62.- for the period from October to December 2021 remains unpaid. This invoice is now considered lost by Climkit which indicates it with the abandoned status. The owner is then free to take action directly with the consumer to recover the amount due.

For what reasons might the annual statement have a balance in favor of Climkit?

1. When the bills from the DSO paid do not correspond to the period of the annual statement. For example, if a DSO bills for the period from April 2021 to March 2022, this bill is charged to the statement of the year 2022 even though it partly corresponds to the year 2021. This typically occurs during the first year of operation of the RCP or when the DSO bills periodic advances instead of actual consumption. In all cases, this will balance out in subsequent years.
2. When the open and abandoned amounts are very significant.
3. When the introduction meter of the building installed by the DSO does not accurately measure the electricity withdrawn and the related bills are too erroneous. In this case, it is necessary to request a verification from the DSO.