Build a financial scenario

The financial workbench projects the cost and revenue of a selected plant design. It combines generation results with customer, tariff, operating, capital and funding inputs.

Its utility projection is separate from the plant simulation’s cost-of-energy calculation. Check the horizon and basis of each figure before comparing them.

Prepare the scenario

Save the project to disk and save a plant design version. A completed simulation supplies operating evidence such as delivered energy, fuel and grid use. A never-run design can be costed when its stored demand declaration supplies the required customer information, or when you explicitly supply missing demographics.

An imported or hand-authored profile does not necessarily contain customer counts. If the model reports FINANCIAL_DEMOGRAPHICS_UNAVAILABLE, run the design, use a suitable synthesis declaration or supply the requested customer basis.

Enter the inputs

1. Open Financial model from the plant overview.
2. Select Design and version. Create a scenario with New scenario if that version has none.
3. Open Setup → Project & people. Review project and customer assumptions, projection period and staffing.
4. Check Demand and Tariffs & fees. Enter the consumption, tariff and customer connection assumptions for the scenario you intend to assess.
5. Review Operating costs, including fuel and grid purchases.
6. Review Capital costs and replacement assumptions. In the distribution area, use Network design → Import quantities to fill rows from a completed network design when available.
7. Review Funding & finance: funding shares, interest, debt timing, discount and tax assumptions.
8. Inspect Results and any computation failure or stale-results notice. Results can follow the form as a preview; select Save scenario to write the inputs and projection into the project.

Network import is a one-time fill. The capital rows remain editable and record their source design. A later network edit does not automatically replace those rows. Review unpriced items before using the total.

Read the result

Read the scenario name, design version, selected run and projection horizon first. Then inspect cash flow, capital cost, operating cost, revenue, sales and customer forecasts. Use the pro-forma to trace a headline value back to its yearly components.

Review tariff sweeps as modeled comparisons under the same assumptions. Cost of energy, customer tariff, net present value and debt coverage answer different questions; do not substitute one for another.

Update after a new plant run

Use Refresh from run to update simulation-derived figures. It preserves saved user-entered tariff, operating, staffing and finance decisions. Unsaved Setup edits are replaced by the stored scenario when you confirm Refresh and save. Check the resulting source run and projection.

Editing Setup starts a new calculation after the inputs settle. The previous preview can remain visible while that calculation runs. When it completes, Results describes the current draft, including unsaved edits. Resolve input errors and select Save scenario to preserve the inputs and projection before reporting the case.

Save and export carefully

Use PDF or XLSX export for the selected scenario. Check the exported horizon, units, assumptions and source version. Keep a scenario copy when you need to preserve a prior decision.

Financial scenarios are stored documents outside the network model’s undo history. Saving, refreshing or deleting them is not reversed by the model Undo command. The assistant exposes approval for these writes.

Current limits

These instructions follow the September 2026 development build. The captured finance example has inconsistent labels and narration, so its figures are not used here as a worked result. Verify the selected projection period rather than assuming a universal 20-year horizon. No example figure on this page is a promised return or tariff.

Return to Plant design or inspect Sensitivity before relying on a single financial scenario.