[GNC] Can one handle electricity?

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 11/30/2021 5:17 AM, Dr. David Kirkby wrote:
> I am still not a user. My accountant does not use it, but says as long as
> it can export cvs files, he is happy to. So I really have not excuse not to
> start using it - other than the burden of learning another piece of
> software.

Besides exporting files, it can produce all the standard reports an 
accountant would usually be asking for.

>
> I wonder if there's a sensible way of handling electricity costs in
> GnuCash. Currently I read the meter each month, and take the price of the
> electricity that month. Obviously the difference between two readings of
> the electric meter tells me how much energy I have used. At the end of the
> year, my accountant just adds this to the director loan. So ultimately from
> an accounting perspective, it is just a director loan. I'm wondering if
> there's any way to automate the calculations, which to be honest is not
> that hard - it would take me 10 minutes in a spreadsheet.

Automate WHICH calculation? The amount of electricity used (DIFFERENCE 
between current reading and previous) --- no. But if you have that, the 
price of electricity used, yes. Imagine you were purchasing a "stock" 
where the number of shares was number of kwh and the price per share 
pounds/kwh.

Michael D Novack

PS --- for those confused by the term "director loan" it is a kind of 
"draw" when a business is providing something of value to an owner (or 
relative of owner) as opposed to actually transferring money. So what he 
is saying, is that personal use electricity is being provided by a 
business electricity account.