# We estimated December's electricity in our report. What do we do when the real bill arrives?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/estimated-bill-true-up-next-year

Replace the estimate with the actual bill in your records. If the difference is small, note it and carry on. If it is material, restate last year's total and say why. Keep both figures and the date you corrected it, so a verifier can follow the change.

## Good practice

- Label every estimate and its method when you report.
- Swap in actual bills as they arrive.
- Restate only when the change crosses your materiality threshold.

## Avoid

Quietly adding the difference to next year. That makes both years wrong.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps each figure tied to its invoice, factor and method version, so a verifier can trace any number back to the document it came from.

- [Estimation note for the verifier](https://senseible.earth/answers/estimation-note-for-verifier)
- [Missing electricity bills](https://senseible.earth/answers/missing-electricity-bills-carbon-footprint)
- [Split a bill across months](https://senseible.earth/answers/split-electricity-bill-across-months-for-carbon)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.