MOL · capability 01 of 08
Validation, estimation and editing, with a record of which was applied.
Communications drop, meter clocks drift and CTs (current transformers) are disturbed during maintenance, but the readings still arrive and still look like valid numbers. MOL applies a rule-based VEE (validation, estimation and editing) process to every interval, for every utility, and keeps the outcome attached to the value. Data that reaches billing therefore carries its own audit trail.
Plausible but incorrect readings cost the most.
A gap in the data is noticed and fixed. The costly case is an interval that is present, within range and wrong: a CT reconnected in reverse after maintenance, a clock ninety seconds out, or a channel mapped to the wrong quantity.
Downstream systems will not flag it, because they have nothing to compare it against. It is billed and reported at face value until a reconciliation exposes it, by which time the correction spans several billing cycles.
Four data states, recorded with every reading
MOL applies a rule-based validation, estimation and editing process to all raw data, regardless of which utility it measures. Each value is assigned one of four states and keeps that state for as long as it exists.
Raw
As received from the meter, before any check has been applied. Never used for billing.
Valid
Passed every required check, or failed a check, was investigated and was confirmed. Billing runs on valid data.
Verified
Failed at least one check, but was examined and found to represent actual usage. A genuine spike is retained as a genuine spike.
Estimated
Could not be recovered, so it was calculated by rule. It carries that label permanently.
In a dispute, the estimated state matters most. An estimated reading is acceptable provided it is labelled as estimated.
Checks at three stages
Some faults can only be detected at the meter, and others only once a month has closed. The checks are therefore divided by when they can usefully run.
01
As the data is read
- Meter clock against system time, before anything is stored
- Communications integrity and expected record count
- Interval size, meter constants and channel-to-quantity mapping
02
Any time before the cycle closes
- Gaps, distinguishing a missing interval from a genuine zero
- Spikes and step changes against the meter's own history
- Reactive energy plausibility against active energy
- Reverse energy where no generation exists
03
At the end of the billing period
- Usage against the same month last year, or against last month where there is no previous year
- Register readings reconciled against the sum of the intervals
- Estimated intervals re-checked for reasonableness
Failed checks are escalated for inspection.
Automatically estimating every failure produces a complete dataset and a clean month-end, but it builds up a layer of derived values that cannot later be separated from measured ones.
MOL escalates failures instead. Each is inspected against the meter's recent history, against the same period last year and, where relevant, against a known change on site. Data that proves genuine is verified and retained at full value. Only data that cannot be recovered is estimated, and the label remains.
The distinction is kept through billing, reporting and any later audit, so an estimated interval is a disclosed assumption rather than a hidden one.
See this applied to your own data.
PMT will run it against a month of your readings and show you the results.