What to do when a bill will not read

Start with the file itself

1. Use the original PDF from your retailer rather than a photo, if you can get one.
2. Check you have uploaded the whole bill. Retailers often put the charges table on page two or three, and a first-page-only file has no rates on it.
3. If it is a photo, retake it flat and in good light with the full page in frame.
4. Make sure it is an invoice, not a statement, reminder or account summary — those show a balance owing rather than the period charges.

Errors you might see, and what they mean

We could not read the usage

The bill total was found but no kilowatt-hours were. Usually a missing page — the usage table is often separate from the summary.

The bill total cannot be right

A zero or negative total was read. Typically a statement or a credit note rather than an invoice for a billing period.

The solar figures do not add up

The export and feed-in rate read off the bill produce a credit larger than every charge on it, while the bill still says an amount is owing. One of those figures is misread, so the bill is not saved rather than comparing you on numbers known to be wrong.

We could not reproduce your bill

The bill saved, but the charges read off it do not add up to its stated total. The comparison still runs; it is flagged because something on the bill was probably missed.

If it still will not read

Some bills are genuinely awkward — unusual layouts, embedded images instead of text, or multi-site commercial invoices. You can enter your usage and rates manually instead, and the comparison works exactly the same way.

If a bill from a major retailer consistently fails, it is worth reporting. Reading failures are tracked and the extraction is measured against real bills, so a recurring problem with a particular format is something that can be fixed.