Use chart types, breakdowns, and filters

Present the result without losing its meaning

The same measurements can tell a clear story or a misleading one depending on how they are presented. A line makes changes over time easy to follow, bars emphasize differences between periods, and stacked bars show how categories contribute to a total. Breakdowns decide which categories become separate series, while filters decide which measurements are included at all.

These choices are related, but they are not interchangeable. Changing the chart type only redraws the loaded values; changing a breakdown or filter changes the analytical result and requires a refresh. This guide helps you make those choices deliberately and describe them when sharing the result.

Open the chart window

In Chat, locate Vega’s response containing the chart or table and select Open, identified by the external-link icon in the response actions. Vega opens the detailed chart window with the visualization on the left and its controls on the right. See Open and adjust the detailed chart window for the full procedure.

The Chart, Breakdown, Filters, Refresh, and Reset breakdown controls described below are in the right-hand panel of that window.

Before changing them, confirm that the visualization already uses the intended time period and interval and metrics and components.

Choose a chart type

Under Chart, choose:

• Auto — uses a line for raw samples, stacked bars when a breakdown is present, and bars for an unbroken aggregated series.
• Bar — places each series in a regular bar view.
• Stacked bar — shows how categories contribute to a total. It is available for aggregated energy with a breakdown.
• Line — emphasizes changes over time and is often clearest for dense intervals.

Chart type changes redraw the rows already loaded, so they do not require a data refresh. If a requested type is incompatible—for example, stacked bars without a breakdown—Vega uses an allowed presentation.

Use Table to confirm exact values regardless of the chart type. A visual impression should not replace checking the underlying number.

Apply a breakdown

Under Breakdown, choose:

• None — combines the selected scope into one series per metric.
• Tariff — groups supported measurements by their assigned tariff code.
• Timeblock — groups supported measurements by the applicable time block.
• Component — creates separate categories for the selected components.

Some calculated solar data supports only None and Component. Available options change with the selected data type.

To see how several components contribute to site consumption:

1. Select the intended components.
2. Choose Energy and Consumption.
3. Choose an appropriate interval.
4. Set Breakdown to Component.
5. Choose Stacked bar or Auto.
6. Select Refresh.
7. Switch to Table and confirm the values before interpreting the proportions.

Apply filters

The Filters control can contain tariff codes, time blocks, Only public holidays, and Exclude public holidays, depending on the component’s calendar context.

1. Open Filters.
2. Select only the categories required by the question.
3. Confirm that the remaining dates still provide a meaningful sample.
4. Select Refresh.
5. Read the result title, period, and table to confirm the active scope.

Only public holidays and Exclude public holidays are mutually exclusive; choosing one removes the other. If no calendar can be resolved for the selected account and components, calendar-based breakdowns or filters can be empty or unavailable.

A filter does not merely hide a series after calculation. It changes which measurements contribute to the result. Always mention active filters when reporting a total, average, minimum, maximum, or ranked value.

Avoid misleading combinations

• A component breakdown can expose overlapping parent and child totals; check the hierarchy in Inventory.
• A coarse interval can hide the short pattern a time-block investigation is intended to reveal.
• A filtered total cannot be compared directly with an unfiltered total without describing the scope difference.
• A stacked chart suggests addition; confirm that the displayed categories are additive and use the same unit.
• Public-holiday results may contain too few observations to support a general operational conclusion.

Reset the visualization

Select Reset breakdown—the undo button beside Refresh—to restore the visualization’s original data settings and refresh it. Use this after exploratory edits or when the current filters are unclear.

Reset restores the original parameters, not a universal default. If the original chat request itself was wrong, ask a corrected follow-up and create a new visualization.

See Understand statistics and unusual patterns before treating an extreme bar or line point as an anomaly.