Data unlocking overview

After a customer has established their utility connection, Bayou gathers all customer data made available by the utility. By default that data will be unlocked for access by a company and metered for monthly invoicing from Bayou to the company using Bayou's product.

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If your company has multiple Bayou accounts (e.g. one for testing, one for production) and the same utility customer account is used across them, you will only be billed once for each meter data unlock that applies to that customer account, regardless of which Bayou account it was unlocked within.

Data unlocking can be controlled:

• At the company level across all end customer bills, in your company settings. These settings will apply to any bills that Bayou discovers. By default, your company settings will be configured to unlock 12 months of historical bills when a customer is first authenticated, and all new bills discovered after that point.
• At the individual meter level on each end customer bill, via the Bayou API. When using this, you make an API call for each bill (or meter) that you want to unlock.
• You can also combine the options: unlock some bills or meters automatically, and additional bills or meters via the API as needed.

When using the first option above:

• Bayou makes an assumption on a company's meter preference (electric, gas or both meter types) based on discussion with an individual company.
• Based on this assumption (which is communicated when a first invoice is sent to a company) Bayou only charges a company based on their meter preference.
• As an example, if a company's meter preference is electric meter data only, then the company will not be charged for any gas meter data.

A company can change their meter preference at any time by emailing [email protected].