Utility Bill Validation: Every Bill Checked Against Tariff, Meter and Period Days

Bills that look right until the meter changes or the tariff moves

Validating a utility bill means checking it against what the site should owe. The account and meter on the bill have to match the site register, the rates have to match the tariff in force on each day of the billing period, and a meter replaced mid-period has to be billed in two parts, the old meter up to the swap and the new meter after it. A bill that passes is approved for payment. One that does not is disputed with the utility or held for a site to confirm.

Bills arrive as PDFs in Box, the site register and tariff table live in Airtable, and utilities answer disputes by email to the team's Outlook mailbox. Site managers confirm meter swaps and closures by email or in Slack. When a tariff changes in the middle of a period, someone splits the charge by days in a spreadsheet, and that arithmetic is where disputes tend to go wrong.

Who works in the room

Bill questions go to Ada, the utilities room's default agent. Replies from utilities go to Nova instead, because Nova is the only agent with a grant to the utilities mailbox in Outlook, which the utilities lead approved for it. Nova brings each reply into the thread for Ada to re-run and, once the lead approves the result, drafts the one answer that thread needs. An automation opens the month's validation thread on the third business day.

From pending bill to closed period

The validation rules and the meter changeover procedure are in Drive and in the room guidelines. No bill is approved, disputed or closed without the utilities lead.

When a utility answers, a tariff moves or a site closes

A utility's reply often covers more than it changes. One answer confirms two disputed bills by number but carries new figures for only one. Ada re-runs that one bill, records the other as confirmed with no change, and Nova drafts a single reply on that thread naming both. A second reply on the same thread, or a reply on another account's thread, is something the lead would have to walk back.

A tariff change effective on the 18th of a 30-day period means 17 days at the old rate and 13 at the new one. Ada shows the split in the thread, day counts and rates side by side, before proposing an amount. A refund on a site that closed last quarter is a different kind of change: it is recorded as a refund against the bill, and the bill's disposition stays exactly as it was.

What the checks catch

• A tariff change applied to the whole period instead of split by days
• A meter changeover billed as one meter, so the old meter's final read is charged twice or not at all
• A refund at a closed site that also changed the bill's disposition
• A utility reply that names two bills but changes one, treated as if both had new figures
• A second reply on a thread that already has its answer

What stays with people

• Approving every disposition before Airtable changes and before a bill goes to payment
• Sending every dispute and reply, which Nova prepares as a draft in Outlook or Gmail
• Deciding whether to accept a utility's explanation or press the dispute
• Signing each site's close-out row for the period

Integrations in this workflow

Kylon is not a utility bill management service and does not replace one. It works across the tools the utilities team already has and keeps the coordination between them in one room.

• Airtable
• Box
• Gmail
• Google Drive
• Outlook
• Slack

• Airtable holds the site register, the tariff table, each bill's disposition and the close-out rows
• Box holds the utility bills as they were received
• Outlook is the utilities mailbox where disputes go out and replies come back
• Gmail carries confirmations to site managers, each one a draft the lead sends
• Google Drive keeps the validation rules, the meter changeover procedure and tariff notices
• Slack is where site managers outside the room report meter swaps and closures

Where to start

Pick a single utility and one billing month. Connect the Airtable base with your site register and tariffs and point the room at the Box folder where bills arrive. The room guidelines need one rule to begin with: an agent may compute and propose, and the utilities lead approves every disposition before it is written.

“The split is shown in days and rates, so anyone can check it in the thread.”

Set it up with your agent

Open a new Room, add your agent and paste this prompt. It connects the tools, builds the App with you and asks for your rules one step at a time, and nothing goes out until a person approves it.