Glossary

Key terms and concepts used throughout OpenZEV.

A

Active Participant A participant whose Valid To date is in the future (or blank), meaning they are currently a member of the ZEV. See Managing Participants.

Admin System administrator role with unrestricted access to all ZEVs, settings, and user accounts. See Roles and Permissions.

Allocation Distribution of community energy production among participants proportional to their consumption at each timestamp. See How Energy Allocation Works.

Allocation Mode Setting on a metering point assignment deciding who pays for that meter: Personal (the assigned participant alone, the default) or Community (split across every participant by allocation weight). See Metering Points.

Allocation Weight A plain relative number per participant deciding how much of a shared cost they carry — not a percentage and not a Wertquote. Defaults to 1, which splits shared costs equally. See Managing Participants.

Allgemeinstrom German for common-area electricity: stairwell lighting, lift, laundry, shared heat pump. In OpenZEV, billed by marking the meter's assignment as Community. See Metering Points.

B

Billing Interval Frequency at which invoices are generated: monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual. Set in ZEV Settings.

Bidirectional Meter A metering point that measures both consumption and production (feed-in). Common for homes with their own solar panels on one meter.

C

Community See ZEV.

Community Metering Point A metering point whose assignment allocation mode is Community: its energy and per-metering-point fees are split across every eligible participant by allocation weight instead of being billed to its holder. The holder of record is unchanged. See Metering Points.

Community Share (Gemeinschaftsanteil) The marker on an invoice line item showing that the amount is this participant's weighted share of a community metering point, rather than their own consumption.

Consumption Energy drawn from the grid or ZEV production. Measured by consumption (or bidirectional) meters.

Coverage Percentage of days in a period with at least one reading for a metering point. Coverage is day-level: 100% means every day has a reading, not that every interval is present. See Metering Analysis.

D

Data Quality Assessment of metering data completeness and health. Green (complete), yellow (partial), red (missing). See Metering Analysis.

Draft Invoice Invoice in initial state, not yet approved. Cannot be edited, but can be regenerated or deleted. See Invoice Management.

E

Energy Tariff Price per kWh charged for energy consumed (local, grid, or feed-in). See Tariff Configuration.

Export / ExportedEnergy Energy produced by a participant and fed back to the community/grid. Also called Feed-In.

F

Feed-In Energy produced by a participant (e.g., from solar panels) that is fed back to the community or external grid. Typically credited at a lower price than local energy. See Tariff Configuration.

Feed-In Tariff Price per kWh credited for participant production fed back.

Fixed Fee Flat monthly or yearly charge (not energy-based). Examples: community admin fee, meter maintenance fee. Charged to each participant, per metering point, or divided between participants — see Shared Fee and Tariff Configuration.

Flat Rate Constant price per kWh throughout the day/period. Contrast with HT/NT (time-of-use).

G

Gap A calendar day in a period with no reading at all for a metering point. Identified in Data Quality analysis.

Grid Energy Energy consumed from the external grid (not available from ZEV production). Typically more expensive than local energy. See Billing.

Grid Tariff Price per kWh charged for grid energy consumed.

H

HT (High Tariff) Higher price per kWh during peak hours (e.g., 06:00–22:00). Used in time-of-use tariffs. Contrast with NT.

I

Import Process of uploading metering data (CSV, Excel, SDAT-CH) into OpenZEV. See Metering Imports.

Invoice Bill generated for a participant covering a billing period. Contains energy charges and fixed fees. See Invoice Management.

Invoicing Period Time range covered by an invoice (e.g., January 1–31, Q1 Jan–Mar, etc.).

L

Local Energy Energy consumed by a participant that is supplied from the ZEV's own production (not the external grid). Typically cheaper than grid energy. See Billing.

Local Pool Total energy available within the ZEV at a given timestamp = min(production, consumption). See Billing.

Local Tariff Price per kWh charged for local energy consumed.

M

Metering Point Physical or logical energy meter, assigned to a participant for a validity period. Measures consumption, production, or both. Identified by unique ID (MSID). See Metering Points.

MSID Meter Serial ID or Metering Point ID — unique identifier for a physical meter.

N

NT (Night Tariff) Lower price per kWh during off-peak hours (e.g., 22:00–06:00). Used in time-of-use tariffs. Contrast with HT.

P

Participant Member of a ZEV community with metering points and energy consumption/production. See Managing Participants.

Period Time window for billing or analysis (day, week, month, quarter, year).

Production Energy generated by a participant (e.g., solar) and fed back to the community/grid. Measured by production (or bidirectional) meters.

Production Meter See Metering Point, type Production.

R

Reading Single-point measurement of energy consumption or production at a specific timestamp. Unit: kWh.

Resolution Aggregation level of a metering chart: hourly, daily, or monthly. Readings themselves are usually 15-minute or hourly values. See Metering Analysis.

S

SDAT-CH Swiss standard for metering data exchange. OpenZEV supports SDAT-CH uploads. See Metering Imports.

Self-Consumption / Self-Sufficiency The fraction of local energy vs. total consumption. Example: 60 kWh local ÷ 100 kWh total = 60% self-consumption.

Sent Invoice Invoice delivered to participant (email sent). Status: Sent. See Invoice Management.

Shared Fee A fixed fee where the configured amount is what the whole community pays, divided between the participants active in each billed month — rather than what each participant pays. Used for jointly carried costs such as a caretaker contract or insurance.

Split Key Setting on a shared fee tariff choosing how the amount is divided: equally between participants (the default) or by allocation weight. See Tariff Configuration.

T

Tariff Pricing rule for energy or fixed fees. Can be energy tariff (per kWh) or fixed fee (monthly/yearly, per metering point, or shared). See Tariff Configuration.

Tariff Period One price of a per-kWh tariff, with the times, weekdays and months it applies (flat, HT, NT, or a named time band). See Tariff Configuration.

Timestamp Specific point in time when a reading was recorded (e.g., 2026-01-15 14:00:00).

Timezone Offset used to interpret a timestamp. Readings are stored on the UTC timeline; there is no timezone selector in the import UI. See Metering Imports.

V

VAT Value Added Tax. In Switzerland, 8.1% (standard rate since 2024). How OpenZEV applies it depends on the ZEV's VAT treatment. See ZEV Setup → VAT Configuration.

Validity Period Date range during which a participant or a participant-meter assignment is active. Defined by Valid From and Valid To dates.

W

Wertquote The legal value quota of a property share under Art. 712e ZGB. OpenZEV does not model it: the allocation weight is a plain relative number a community sets for itself. You may enter value quotas as weights, but that is a community decision, not a legal mapping the system enforces.

Z

ZEV / vZEV Zusammenschluss zum Eigenverbrauch (self-consumption community) under Swiss law: members share locally produced energy. In a ZEV they sit behind one grid connection; in a virtual ZEV (vZEV) they keep their own connections. See ZEV Setup.

ZEV Scope Data isolation boundary for a ZEV. A ZEV Owner can only access their assigned ZEV(s). Participants see only their own data within their ZEV.

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Related Concepts

Billing Model

OpenZEV uses a timestamp-level allocation model:

1. At each moment, determine how much local energy is available
2. Allocate proportionally to consumption
3. Remaining consumption is billed at grid rate
4. Sum over billing period
5. Apply tariffs and fixed fees

See How Energy Allocation Works for full explanation.

Data Privacy

Data access is scoped by role and ZEV: participants see only their own data, ZEV owners only their assigned community's data, and admins everything. See Roles and Permissions.

Audit Trail

A record of who did what, when, and what changed. Visible to admins and — for their own communities — to ZEV owners. See Roles and Permissions.

Feature Matrix by Role

See Roles and Permissions for the complete access matrix. Note that OpenZEV has four roles — admin, ZEV owner, participant, and guest — where a guest account gains access only once an admin links it to a participant.