Annual statement of the site

Annual Statement of the Site

When the owner mandates Climkit to manage billing and collections from 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: responsible for the site who mandates Climkit to manage the metering and billing of energy at their site. Sometimes, the owner is represented by a 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 the mandate of Climkit?

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

Climkit also pays the electricity supplier bills for the site (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 from consumers and disbursements paid to suppliers.

In the context of a grouping for self-consumption (RCP), the difference is generally in favor of the owner and corresponds to the sale of self-consumed solar electricity to consumers as well as the surplus reinjected into the grid and bought back by the distributor.

When is the annual statement established?

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

How is the owner remunerated?

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 owed to Climkit, the owner has 30 days to pay the amount due via the invoice attached to the statement.

What does the statement look like?

The annual statement indicates the difference between all collections received and 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, 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. Outstanding amounts: unpaid consumer invoices as of today for the period of this statement.
4. Abandoned amounts: unpaid consumer invoices from previous years to the period of this statement whose amounts are considered lost. As an owner, you are free to undertake recovery actions directly with the consumers.

Only the first two sections are taken into account in the balance calculation.

What does collections consist of?

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

What does disbursements consist of?

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

Where can we find the invoices and documents referenced in the statement?

All related invoices and 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 are included in the Outstanding amounts section of the statement for informational purposes.

When these invoices are paid, the annual statement will be updated to account for these new collections, and the positive balance in favor of the owner will be carried forward to the next year's statement. All consumer invoices and their payment status are accessible on the Climkit 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 CHF 180 invoice. The 2022 statement is updated to show a balance in favor of the owner of CHF 180. This amount will be carried forward 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 recovery actions with the concerned consumer to obtain the due payment.

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 is still unpaid. This invoice is now considered lost by Climkit, which marks it with the abandoned status. The owner is then free to undertake direct actions with the consumer to recover the owed amount.

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

1. When the paid bills from the DSO 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 attributed to the 2022 statement even though it partly corresponds to 2021. This usually happens 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 be compensated in subsequent years.
2. When outstanding and abandoned amounts are very significant.
3. When the introduction meter of the building installed by the DSO does not measure the extracted electricity correctly and the related bills are too erroneous. In this case, it is necessary to request a verification from the DSO.