Been experimenting with different chart types in my reports. Bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, etc. What visual formats do your clients respond to best? Some seem to love charts, others ignore them completely.
Charts and Graphs - What Actually Works?
Rob, I stick with simple bar charts for cost comparisons and line graphs for usage trends. Pie charts are good for showing breakdown of total bill but don't use more than 5-6 slices.
Before/after bar charts work great. Show current cost vs. projected cost side by side. Makes the savings really obvious. I use bright green for savings and red for current costs.
Good suggestions. Gil, do you annotate those trend lines to explain the seasonal variations or let them figure it out themselves?
Always annotate. Add callouts for major peaks and explain what caused them. "August peak due to cooling load" or "January spike from heating". Don't make them guess what they're looking at.
Trend lines showing 12-24 months of usage patterns help justify seasonal adjustments. Clients can see their own data and understand why summer peaks cost so much more.