diff --git a/monasca_transform/component/usage/calculate_rate.py b/monasca_transform/component/usage/calculate_rate.py
index 5f13fb5..c771515 100644
--- a/monasca_transform/component/usage/calculate_rate.py
+++ b/monasca_transform/component/usage/calculate_rate.py
@@ -96,14 +96,22 @@ class CalculateRate(UsageComponent):
             ((latest_quantity - oldest_quantity) / oldest_quantity) * 100
 
         #  create a new instance usage dict
-        instance_usage_dict = {"tenant_id": "all",
-                               "user_id": "all",
-                               "resource_uuid": "all",
-                               "geolocation": "all",
-                               "region": "all",
-                               "zone": "all",
-                               "host": "all",
-                               "project_id": "all",
+        instance_usage_dict = {"tenant_id":
+                               latest_dict.get("tenant_id", "all"),
+                               "user_id":
+                                   latest_dict.get("user_id", "all"),
+                               "resource_uuid":
+                                   latest_dict.get("resource_uuid", "all"),
+                               "geolocation":
+                                   latest_dict.get("geolocation", "all"),
+                               "region":
+                                   latest_dict.get("region", "all"),
+                               "zone":
+                                   latest_dict.get("zone", "all"),
+                               "host":
+                                   latest_dict.get("host", "all"),
+                               "project_id":
+                                   latest_dict.get("project_id", "all"),
                                "aggregated_metric_name":
                                    aggregated_metric_name,
                                "quantity": rate_percentage,
@@ -118,9 +126,13 @@ class CalculateRate(UsageComponent):
                                "record_count": oldest_dict["record_count"] +
                                    latest_dict["record_count"],
                                "service_group":
-                                   Component.DEFAULT_UNAVAILABLE_VALUE,
+                                   latest_dict.get("service_group",
+                                                   Component.
+                                                   DEFAULT_UNAVAILABLE_VALUE),
                                "service_id":
-                                   Component.DEFAULT_UNAVAILABLE_VALUE,
+                                   latest_dict.get("service_id",
+                                                   Component.
+                                                   DEFAULT_UNAVAILABLE_VALUE),
                                "usage_date": latest_dict["usage_date"],
                                "usage_hour": latest_dict["usage_hour"],
                                "usage_minute": latest_dict["usage_minute"],
diff --git a/monasca_transform/driver/mon_metrics_kafka.py b/monasca_transform/driver/mon_metrics_kafka.py
index 249c458..b146ee1 100644
--- a/monasca_transform/driver/mon_metrics_kafka.py
+++ b/monasca_transform/driver/mon_metrics_kafka.py
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ from monasca_transform.data_driven_specs.data_driven_specs_repo \
 from monasca_transform.processor.pre_hourly_processor import PreHourlyProcessor
 
 from monasca_transform.transform import RddTransformContext
+from monasca_transform.transform.storage_utils import \
+    InvalidCacheStorageLevelException
 from monasca_transform.transform.storage_utils import StorageUtils
 from monasca_transform.transform.transform_utils import MonMetricUtils
 from monasca_transform.transform import TransformContextUtils
@@ -454,8 +456,14 @@ class MonMetricsKafkaProcessor(object):
             if cfg.CONF.service.enable_record_store_df_cache:
                 storage_level_prop = \
                     cfg.CONF.service.record_store_df_cache_storage_level
-                storage_level = StorageUtils.get_storage_level(
-                    storage_level_prop)
+                try:
+                    storage_level = StorageUtils.get_storage_level(
+                        storage_level_prop)
+                except InvalidCacheStorageLevelException as storage_error:
+                    storage_error.value += \
+                        " (as specified in " \
+                        "service.record_store_df_cache_storage_level)"
+                    raise
                 record_store_df.persist(storage_level)
 
             #
diff --git a/monasca_transform/processor/pre_hourly_processor.py b/monasca_transform/processor/pre_hourly_processor.py
index e5bcb85..80a34ae 100644
--- a/monasca_transform/processor/pre_hourly_processor.py
+++ b/monasca_transform/processor/pre_hourly_processor.py
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ from monasca_transform.data_driven_specs.data_driven_specs_repo \
 from monasca_transform.data_driven_specs.data_driven_specs_repo \
     import DataDrivenSpecsRepoFactory
 from monasca_transform.processor import Processor
+from monasca_transform.transform.storage_utils import \
+    InvalidCacheStorageLevelException
 from monasca_transform.transform.storage_utils import StorageUtils
 from monasca_transform.transform.transform_utils import InstanceUsageUtils
 from monasca_transform.transform import TransformContextUtils
@@ -416,8 +418,15 @@ class PreHourlyProcessor(Processor):
             storage_level_prop = \
                 cfg.CONF.pre_hourly_processor\
                 .instance_usage_df_cache_storage_level
-            storage_level = StorageUtils.get_storage_level(
-                storage_level_prop)
+            try:
+                storage_level = StorageUtils.get_storage_level(
+                    storage_level_prop)
+            except InvalidCacheStorageLevelException as storage_error:
+                storage_error.value += \
+                    " (as specified in " \
+                    "pre_hourly_processor.instance_usage_df" \
+                    "_cache_storage_level)"
+                raise
             instance_usage_df.persist(storage_level)
 
         # aggregate pre hourly data
diff --git a/monasca_transform/transform/storage_utils.py b/monasca_transform/transform/storage_utils.py
index 34eb68f..2bfcab0 100644
--- a/monasca_transform/transform/storage_utils.py
+++ b/monasca_transform/transform/storage_utils.py
@@ -15,6 +15,19 @@
 from pyspark import StorageLevel
 
 
+class InvalidCacheStorageLevelException(Exception):
+    """Exception thrown when an invalid cache storage level is encountered
+    Attributes:
+    value: string representing the error
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, value):
+        self.value = value
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return repr(self.value)
+
+
 class StorageUtils(object):
     """storage util functions"""
 
@@ -46,4 +59,5 @@ class StorageUtils(object):
         elif (storage_level_str == "OFF_HEAP"):
             return StorageLevel.OFF_HEAP
         else:
-            return StorageLevel.MEMORY_ONLY
+            raise InvalidCacheStorageLevelException(
+                "Unrecognized cache storage level: %s" % storage_level_str)