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AccountCostDisabled: Enable EA Cost Access

Fix this error​

Spotto shows AccountCostDisabled when Azure has disabled monetary cost data for an Enterprise Agreement (EA) account. An Azure Enterprise Administrator must enable Account owners can view charges (AO view charges) on the billing account.

The Azure error usually includes this message:

Access to cost data has been disabled for account admins. Please query for usage (Quantity dimension) and contact the billing account admin for access to costs.

Enable Account owners can view charges​

In the Azure portal:

  1. Sign in with an Enterprise Administrator account.
  2. Open Cost Management + Billing.
  3. Select Billing scopes.
  4. Select the Enterprise Agreement billing account for the affected subscription.
  5. Under Settings, select Policies.
  6. Set Account owners can view charges to On.
  7. Save the change.

If the affected access is at department scope, also check Department admins can view charges (DA view charges).

Confirm Spotto Azure RBAC​

After charge visibility is enabled:

  1. Open the affected Subscription.
  2. Open Access control (IAM).
  3. Confirm the Spotto service principal has Reader and Cost Management Reader, either directly or through an inherited scope.
  4. Wait for the billing policy and role changes to propagate.

Azure RBAC does not override a disabled EA view-charges policy. Both the billing policy and the relevant Azure role assignment must allow access.

Retry the subscription sync​

In Spotto:

  1. Rerun the affected subscription sync.
  2. Open the subscription's sync progress.
  3. Confirm the billing step no longer shows Azure EA cost access is disabled or AccountCostDisabled.
  4. Confirm cost-driven views begin receiving current data.

What this error means​

Error code: AccountCostDisabled

Azure accepted the Cost Management Query API request but refused to return monetary values because EA charge visibility is disabled. Spotto stops retrying this condition during the current sync because another identical request cannot change the billing-account policy.

Azure may still allow quantity-based usage queries while withholding fields such as cost, price, and effective price. Quantity data alone is not enough for Spotto's cost views and savings calculations.

Why it happens​

Enterprise Agreement billing accounts can hide pricing and charge data from account owners, subscription users, and Azure RBAC users. When AO view charges is off, assigning another subscription role does not make the cost values available.

This differs from SubscriptionCostDisabled, which commonly refers to CSP or Azure Plan customer cost visibility.

Who can fix it​

  • An Azure Enterprise Administrator can enable the EA billing account policy.
  • A subscription Owner or User Access Administrator can confirm the Spotto service principal's Azure RBAC assignments.
  • A Spotto administrator can rerun the sync and verify that the warning clears.

Important notes​

  • Spotto cannot change the EA billing policy through onboarding scripts, Terraform role assignments, or subscription RBAC.
  • A Microsoft Entra Global Administrator is not automatically an Enterprise Administrator for an EA billing account.
  • Policy and role changes can take time to propagate.
  • If AccountCostDisabled remains after both checks, confirm that the subscription belongs to the selected EA enrollment account and contact the team that manages the Azure billing account.