Community energy co-op dashboard
The scheme generated one figure and the members used another, and they are not the same people. Splitting that difference fairly is the job — and the dashboard does the arithmetic and shows its working.
1. The problem, in plain English
A scheme generates one total and consumes another. They are rarely the same number, and even when they are, they were not made and used by the same people.
- The timing does not line up. Panels peak at midday in May, households in the evening in January, so a member can be a net generator on paper and still buy nearly all their electricity.
- Some members have bigger roofs. A 4 kW array contributes several times what a shaded 1.5 kW one does.
- Some members joined later. Someone who joined in July paid nothing towards a panel fitted in March, yet a shareholding split treats everyone alike from day one.
- Some members use far more. A heat pump or an electric car can double a household's use, and that member is not necessarily the one with the big roof.
Insurance, maintenance, metering, the failed inverter: the scheme's own costs are collective, while the generation is not. So pick a method deliberately, write it down, and apply it to everyone including the committee.
2. What the tool does, and what it deliberately does not
The dashboard is an accounting aid: readings and shares in, a defensible split out, with the working shown so any member can follow the arithmetic by hand — a settlement table to the cent, and a CSV export for the minutes.
Deliberately not in the box
It is not a metering system and reads nothing: you type or paste your own readings. It does not connect to inverters or smart meters. It does not know your tariff. And it is not financial, tax or legal advice.
3. How to use it
Step by step
- Download the single file. Open the dashboard and save the page.
- Open it in any browser. Phone, laptop or tablet, offline.
- Add the members and their share. A name and a percentage each; the tool warns if they do not add to 100% and divides by weight anyway.
- Name the period. "2026 Q1" — it lands in the exported filename.
- Enter generation and consumption. Type each member's kWh, or paste readings, one member per line: name, generation, consumption.
- Set the unit value — what a kWh is worth to the scheme this period.
- Choose a method, read the settlement table, export the CSV for the minutes, and send the same table to every member.
All of your data stays on the machine you are using. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is tracked. Save keeps the figures in that browser across a reload; sharing a settlement means copying the exported CSV.
4. The four split methods, without jargon
Every method starts from a pool (what the members' generation was worth) and each member's consumption; what changes is who the pool goes to, and whether consumption is charged for.
Choose one
- 1. Split by shareholdingThe pool divided in proportion to shares, full stop: 10% of the shares is 10% of the pool, whatever your roof did.
- 2. Split in proportion to consumptionThe pool divided in proportion to each member's kWh — a rebate against use, which ignores who paid for the panel.
- 3. Contribution, charged at the point of useCredit for your own array's kWh, charge for your own consumption; net is credit minus charge. Closest to the physics, but it treats a big roof as a personal asset.
- 4. Two buckets: generation credit + consumption charge The credit goes by shareholding, not by whose roof it sits on; the charge is raised at the point of use; credits are scaled to charges so the settlement balances to zero.
A worked example you can check by hand
Two members, 50% shares each. A generated 100 kWh and used
250 kWh; B generated 300 kWh and used 150 kWh. At
€0.25 a kWh the pool is 400 kWh × €0.25 = €100.00.
| Per member | A | B | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generation (kWh) | 100 | 300 | 400 |
| Consumption (kWh) | 250 | 150 | 400 |
| Method 1 — shareholding | €50.00 | €50.00 | €100.00 |
| Method 2 — by consumption | €62.50 | €37.50 | €100.00 |
| Method 3 — net position | −€37.50 | +€37.50 | €0.00 |
| Method 4 — net position | −€12.50 | +€12.50 | €0.00 |
The arithmetic, by hand. Method 1: half the pool each. Method 2: A used 250 of
the 400 kWh — 62.5% — so A receives €100 × 0.625 = €62.50 and B the rest. Method 3:
A's credit 100 × 0.25 = €25.00 minus A's charge 250 × 0.25 = €62.50 gives
−€37.50; B's credit 300 × 0.25 = €75.00 minus B's charge
150 × 0.25 = €37.50 gives +€37.50. The nets cancel, which is the check
that the method is closed. Method 4: credits by shares (€50.00 each) minus charges of €62.50 and
€37.50 gives A −€12.50 and B +€12.50.
Why the example matters. Identical shares and totals, yet Method 3 makes A owe B €37.50 and Method 4 only €12.50: a €25.00 gap worth having once, in advance.
5. The governance point
The method matters less than the fact that it was decided, written down and applied consistently: a slightly unfair rule everyone agreed to outlasts a fairer one nobody can explain.
- Write the method into the rules, not into one committee member's spreadsheet, and state the unit value and how it is set.
- Minute the decision: which method, who proposed it, the vote, and the period it applies to.
- Agree the period in advance, and whether readings are actual or estimated.
- Show members the same numbers, so nobody argues from a different figure.
- Be consistent. If one reading is estimated, say so for all.
Settle these in writing before the first settlement
- What is being split? Generation only, export income, a rebate, or the whole surplus?
- How is each member's generation measured, and by whom? A meter, the inverter's figures, an estimate, or a fixed notional figure?
- Who bears the scheme's own costs? Off the top of the pool, or by shares?
- What happens to members who join or leave mid-period? Pro-rated, settled next period, or excluded until the next full period?
- When the totals do not match, and who sets the unit value? Decide before the period starts.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. Whether a settlement creates a taxable supply, a benefit in kind or a regulatory problem depends on your country, structure and contracts — ask your accountant and the body you are registered with.
Honest limitations. The tool cannot check the figures you type, does not model time-of-use bands, standing charges, export payments, VAT or losses, and does not pro-rate members who join mid-period or allocate the scheme's own costs. It rounds to the cent by largest remainder, so one line can differ by a cent from a hand sum done another way.
Open the community energy co-op dashboard →
Its licence is different from the rest of this page. The dashboard is free software under the GNU AGPL v3 or later: download it, run it, change it, pass it on — and if you run a changed version as a service for other people, publish your changes. What that means.
Free to copy, adapt and pass on.