Utilities are one of the largest operating expenses for a business—yet they’re one of the least structured costs in many organizations. Without a clear system, it’s difficult to understand how utilities impact the true cost of running your assets.
With Limble, you can simplify this by using Purchase Orders (POs) paired with GL codes—giving you clean, reportable data and a complete picture of your operating costs.
Step 1: Setup Workflows (Vendors, GL Codes, and Budget)
Vendors
Gather a list of each of your utility companies. Add them as vendors in Limble. In the example below I've added a new column called "Utilities" to track what they are responsible for.
GL Codes
Work with your accounting team to define GL codes for each utility type (electric, water, gas, etc.). Once you have a list, build them out in Limble:
- Open a new PO
- Click on "Add Item"
- Add an item (Example: Other- "Test item") and hit "Save"
- Create/edit your GL codes. You might have one code for all utilities but it is best practice to create one for each utility so you can report them separately if needed.
Budget (Optional)
"Budget" is a bit of a deceptive word in Limble because it really isn't a budget, it's a workflow. If you currently use POs in Limble it might be helpful to set up a new "Budget" workflow for utilities. This will help you create a workflow to validate the POs or to speed up the process by skipping steps that other POs need to go through.
Step 2: Track your Spending
Whenever you receive a statement:
- Go to Purchasing → POs → Add Purchase Order
- Select the vendor and budget
- Add the item as "Other" and choose the correct GL code
- Fill out the "QTY" with the unit of measure used such as KWH, CCF, Tonnage, etc.
- Make sure the PO Date is set to show which month the cost is for.
Pro Tips
- Create POs for the last couple years of bills so you can instantly show a data line trend in the system. Just set the date of the PO in the past so it shows up in the right month/year.
- Attach a copy of the document in the comments. This will allow you to review the documentation down the road, if needed.
- If you receive different bills for different buildings/locations make sure to tie the POs to specific assets for better visibility.
Step 3: Create Widgets/Dashboards
Once you have some POs in the system, you can now create custom dashboards to showcase the data. Try reporting on some different metrics to see your spend over time:
- Spend by GL code (e.g., total electricity costs)
- Spend by Vendor
- Usage (KWH, CCF, etc.)
- Costs by asset (building/location)
Now you can observe usage/cost trends over time to identify spikes and help forecast future spending. You can also associate these costs to assets to better understand value.
Final Takeaway
By creating a PO for each utility bill and assigning the right GL code, you turn scattered expenses into clean, structured data.
No spreadsheets. No guesswork. Just clear visibility into your utility costs—and the true cost of running your assets.
