Utility Billing Import and Export

Rentec Direct automates interactions with utility billing service providers, including Ista (now part of Aurea Energy Solutions). This two-step process can be handled by your property management staff or by the billing service company directly, provided you grant them access to your software via a user login.

Check Program Defaults

Each Resident ID must be included in the form. You can easily take a quick look at the current settings or change settings using the steps below.

In your Rentec Direct account:

1. Click on Settings
2. Under Program, click on Program Defaults
3. Click on Edit Advanced Settings (at the bottom of the page)
4. Under Advanced General Preferences, set Show renter account number in breadcrumbs to Yes
5. Save Changes

Step 1 - Export Utility Charges from Rentec

The following steps guide you through downloading a utility billing data file to be provided to your service vendor.

In your Rentec Direct account: 

1. Click on Settings
2. Under Tools, click on Utilities
3. Click the Download Utility Billing Data button
4. Configure your export with the following three options:
   1. Output Format: Choose your billing vendor. The software defaults to Ista; however, if you have an alternate vendor, please let us know, and we would be happy to work with them also.
   2. Properties to include:  Use the dropdown to select any properties that the billing service vendor bills on your behalf should be selected.
   3. Days after move-out to bill: All tenants (except those who have been deleted) will be included on the report. To tell the billing service vendor not to bill expired tenants that have moved out X days ago, specify a value here for how many days. For instance, if left at the default of 30 days, any tenants who moved out more than 30 days ago would not be billed.
5. Click the Download Report button when finished and save the report to a location on your computer.
6. Provide the saved report to your billing service vendor.

Step 2 - Import New Utility Billing Charges Into Rentec

The following steps guide you through importing the billing charges you receive back from your service provider into the software. If you can't obtain a CSV file from your billing service provider, use this example file and populate it with your own data.

In your Rentec Direct account:

1. Click on Settings
2. Under Tools, click on Utilities
3. Click on Import Tenant Charges

4. Like before, choose the Import Format, select the file from the computer, then click Upload File

   System Notes: You will be presented with a summary of the charges to be entered into the system. You will see the column number, the tenant name, description, and the amount of the charge. Rows with x errors will not be imported. !Warnings should be reviewed, but will not prevent a row from being imported.

5. Once you have reviewed the data, either click Go Back to choose a new file or Import Charges to proceed.

   Note: Once you select Import Charges, all charges will be automatically applied to tenants within the system as of the dates specified in the import file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q) How do I edit the import file? 

The file provided by Ista or another billing service provider will be in a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file. These files can be opened by MS Excel or any text editor. We recommend viewing the contents in Excel but not editing, as Excel will often unintentionally modify the data, such as reformatting dates and amounts. The best way to edit the data before import is to use Notepad or another text editor. Save the file, and re-try the import.

Q) How do I provide my billing vendor with a login so they can complete the process on our behalf? 

To grant a vendor login access to your account, you must add them as a user. You can find detailed instructions for this process in the article titled "Add Subusers, Managers, and Additional Users to Your Account."

Grant the following permissions if you are giving access to a utility vendor:

• Access to Utilities
• Download Utility Billing Data
• Access to Utilities: Import Tenant Charges

Tip: You can limit users' access to specific properties in their Properties Permissions.

Q) Can I do a sample import to get used to the process? 

We don't have a way to perform a sample import; however, you can do a limited import, which makes it easy to back out if there is a problem. Follow step 1 as you usually would, and in step 2, open the import file in a text editor such as Notepad and delete all but perhaps the top 2 or 3 lines. Proceed with the import, and you can then review the charges for accuracy. If there is any problem, just void out the transactions you imported.

Information on how to void transactions can be found here: Edit, Correct, or Delete Transactions.

Tip: Before any charges are applied to the system, a summary screen will always appear, allowing you to review all items to be imported or charged and helping to prevent errors.