Consumption Profiles

↑

On This Page

• Before you start
• 1. Load a profile
• 2. Review usage
• 3. Fine-tune a profile
• 4. Usage before solar
• 5. Limits & rules
• FAQ & troubleshooting

A consumption profile is the hour-by-hour picture of how much electricity a site uses across a full year. SolarPlus uses it to size a system correctly, model savings against the customer's tariff, and generate an accurate proposal — so it's worth getting right before moving on to system design.

Before you start

• (Recommended) A tariff has been added to the system, so time-of-use breakdowns and rate-period scaling are available while you work.
• If you're uploading real usage data: an interval-data export from the customer's utility or smart meter, saved as a .csv file.
• If the customer already has solar and you're uploading their post-solar meter readings: the existing array size, inverter rating, and roughly the tilt/azimuth of that system, for the reconstruction step.

1. Load a profile

Open the Energy tab and find the Consumption Profile card. Until a profile is loaded, it reads “No profile is currently loaded.” Choose one of two starting points.

METHOD AChoose from the library

1. Select the Library tab.
2. Search for a template profile — a typical residential or commercial shape, or one your business has saved before.
3. Enter an Avg. Daily kWh — this scales the template's shape up or down to match the site's expected usage.
4. Select Load selected.

Use this when you don't have the customer's real usage data yet, or want a quick placeholder while you continue the design.

METHOD BUpload the customer's usage data

1. Select the Upload .csv tab.
2. Enter a Profile Name (150 characters max).
3. Choose the Format that matches the layout of the file you were given — see the table below.
4. For datetime-based formats, leave Date format on Auto detect, or set it manually if you already know whether the file's dates are day-first or month-first. For the two “Row to a Day” formats, enter the Column A data row filter instead — the value in the first column of the rows you want imported.
5. If this data was recorded after an existing solar system was installed, check This meter data is after existing solar — see Reconstruct usage from before solar below.
6. Optional: check Add to typical profiles to save a copy into your business's shared library for reuse on future sites, and Capture kVAr/export data if present to keep any reactive-power or export readings the file contains.
7. If the file covers less than a full year, check Apply seasonal variation from state average and select the site's state — SolarPlus extends the shorter dataset using a typical seasonal pattern for that region.
8. Drag in or browse to the .csv file. Not sure it matches a format? Use the sample-file link next to each format, or the info icon for the full file-format guide.
9. Select Load.

Format	Use when your file has…
2 Column – Datetime + kWh	One timestamp column and one energy-used column. The most common smart-meter export.
2 Column – Datetime + kW	Same layout, but the second column is an instantaneous power reading rather than energy.
3 Column – Date + 24hr time + kWh	Date and time of day in separate columns, plus energy used.
3 Column – Date + kWh + kVArh	Adds a reactive-power (kVArh) reading alongside energy — for sites with power-factor data.
3 Column – Datetime + kWh + Solar export kWh	Existing-solar sites where the file already separates grid import from solar exported to the grid.
4 Column – Date + kWh + B1-export + P1-prod	Export and on-site production reported in their own columns.
Row to a Day	One row per day, with each interval listed across columns — typical of NEM12-style utility exports. Needs a row filter value.
Multiple Meter Row to a Day	Same day-per-row layout, but the file mixes readings from more than one meter. The row filter value picks which one.

What happens after you select Load

For datetime + kWh/kW formats, SolarPlus checks the file and builds it into a full year automatically:

• It works out the date order. If it can't tell confidently, you'll be asked to confirm DD-MM-YYYY or MM-DD-YYYY before continuing.
• It detects the reading interval (every 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes) from the timestamps.
• If the file has more than two data columns, you'll be asked to confirm which is the timestamp and which is the usage reading — any others are ignored.
• Short gaps (under two hours) are filled in automatically, using the same day and time from the closest earlier week that does have a reading. Longer gaps are shown to you for review first, with the size of each gap and where its replacement values come from.
• Repeated timestamps are combined automatically — added together for energy readings, averaged for power readings.

Import summary

Once the import finishes, a summary shows the date range used, how the year was built (a full measured year, a modelled year, or a weekday-aligned blend of what you provided), the reading interval, and how many intervals were measured versus filled in or modelled.

2. Review usage

Once a profile is loaded, the card's status line changes to “Using [Profile Name] — X kWh/day.” Use the Analyse profile / Edit profile toggle to switch between reviewing and changing it.

In Analyse profile:

• Jump to a period quickly with Avg day, Summer avg, Winter avg, or Avg week — or pick a specific day, week, month, custom range, or the full year from the range selector.
• Switch chart views: Consumption Profile, Peak Load Chart, Heatmap, or Bill Components (this last one needs a tariff on the system).
• Below the chart, check Annual total kWh, Average daily kWh, and Max interval demand kW — and, if a tariff is set, a breakdown of consumption by time-of-use rate period and season.
• Open Decision insights to see the profile's load shape, demand, solar & storage fit, tariff exposure, power quality, and data quality, each flagged as good, a caution, or something that needs attention.

3. Fine-tune a profile

Switch to Edit profile to adjust a loaded profile without re-uploading. Open a tool, make your changes, then select Save changes (or Cancel to discard).

• Adjust day/week load shape — drag the bars for a typical day, or edit each day of the week individually. Scale a whole day up or down with the slider (−50% to +50%), or use Copy to next to repeat a day's shape onto the following day.
• Apply monthly scaling — enter a value for each month, in either Daily kWh avg per month or Monthly kWh total mode. Select Pre-fill each month with its average day to start from the profile's current monthly averages instead of blank fields.
• Apply TOU scaling — if a tariff is loaded, allocate what percentage of annual usage falls in each rate period and season, with the current kWh and percentage for each shown as a reference.
• Edit average daily kWh — rescale the whole profile to a new daily average in one step.

Each editor includes a Save to Consumption Profile Library checkbox — leave it unchecked to keep the change specific to this site, or check it to also update the shared copy your business can reuse elsewhere.

To rename the active profile, select Edit next to its name.

4. Reconstruct usage from before solar

Use this when the meter data you have was recorded after an existing solar system was already reducing the customer's grid usage — for example, when re-quoting a battery or an upgrade for a customer who already has solar. SolarPlus works backwards from that reduced (net) reading to model the site's total (gross) usage before solar, which is what system sizing needs.

1. When uploading, check This meter data is after existing solar — or, on an already-loaded profile, select Reconstruct load before existing solar / Regenerate from source.
2. Enter the existing system's details: PV array size (kW DC), Inverter AC limit, Tilt, Azimuth, and System losses (%).
3. If the file didn't include a separate export reading, enter an estimated Annual PV export % — the share of what the panels generate that's sent back to the grid rather than used on site.
4. Select Preview reconstruction to see the modelled results: grid import, modelled PV output, self-consumed PV, PV export, and gross (before-solar) consumption — as a daily average and an annual total — plus an achievable export range and a sample seven-day chart comparing grid import, modelled PV, and gross consumption.
5. Review any warnings shown, then select Generate and use profile to replace the active profile with the reconstructed gross-usage profile.

Measured export beats an estimate

If your file already reports export directly, the export-percentage field is skipped and that measured data is used instead. Results built from an estimated export percentage are noted as less reliable for daytime load and peak demand — use a format that includes solar export whenever the customer's meter or inverter can provide it.

Once reconstructed, the profile is labelled Reconstructed before solar, and an Existing solar assumptions summary (array size, inverter, tilt, azimuth, losses, and export source) stays attached — so you or a teammate can see how the numbers were derived, or regenerate them later if an assumption changes.

5. Limits & rules

The working limits behind each part of the profile, for quick reference.

File & naming
Profile name	≤ 150 characters
File type	.csv only
Row-per-day formats	row filter value required
Smart import
Minimum data	2+ valid timestamped readings
Date order	auto-detected, confirm if unclear
Gap fill	automatic under 2 hours
Long gaps	confirmation required, 2+ hours
Duplicate timestamps	summed (kWh) / averaged (kW)
Editing
Monthly / avg kWh values	zero or positive only
Average daily kWh	required, zero or positive
Existing solar reconstruction
PV array size / inverter rating	greater than 0 kW
Tilt	0–90°
Azimuth	0–359°
System losses	0–50%
Estimated export	0–100% (skipped if measured export data is present)

Important: uploading replaces your previous profile

Uploading a new private CSV profile for a system replaces that system's earlier private profile. Reconstructed (existing-solar) profiles are the exception — they're kept rather than overwritten. If you want to keep a profile before uploading a new one, save it to your business's library first with Add to typical profiles.

FAQ & troubleshooting

I see “Ambiguous date format detected” — what do I do?

SolarPlus couldn't confidently tell whether your file's dates are day-first or month-first. Choose DD-MM-YYYY or MM-DD-YYYY yourself under Date format and reload the file.

Some of my data looks like it wasn't in my original file.

Short gaps (under two hours) are filled in automatically from the nearest earlier week at the same day and time. Longer gaps are shown to you for confirmation before anything is filled — check the import summary to see exactly which intervals were measured versus filled.

My previous profile disappeared after I uploaded a new one.

Uploading a new private CSV for a system replaces that system's earlier private profile. To keep both, save the one you want to keep to your business's library first with Add to typical profiles — or use existing-solar reconstruction, whose results are preserved rather than replaced.

Should I check “This meter data is after existing solar”?

Only if the usage data you're uploading was recorded while an existing solar system was already installed and reducing what the meter shows. If the site has no solar yet, leave it unchecked.

What does “Add to typical profiles” actually do?

It saves a copy of the profile to your business's shared library, so it shows up under the Library tab for any future site — separate from the copy attached to this specific system.

Why is there a warning banner on my consumption card?

It appears when the average daily kWh works out to a negative number — usually a sign the file, or a manual edit, needs a second look.