Meter overview 

What is a meter?

A meter tracks the use and cost of a specific resource (commodity) and is represented with a commodity icon.

It can represent a physical utility meter, and it can track any resource type, with or without an associated cost. Some non-traditional examples include using a meter to track the tons of waste removed from a facility and the cost (not use) of a sewer bill.  

Meter facts

• Track consumption and cost of a utility service.
• Attach to accounts and buildings. The meter must be attached to an active account before you can record billing data.
• Have a specific address and latitude and longitude (meters can inherit this from their parent building).
• Have bills associated with them even when no physical meter exists such as street lighting, refuse service, or a virtual chargeback meter.
• Can represent and chart interval data collected from a physical device or process.
• Can track and charge back use and cost information for monitored processes or facilities (submetered values).
• Can represent just a portion (percentage allocation) of a source bill that is divided for specific accounting purposes.

This system overview diagram shows how meters are linked to accounts and can then receive bills.

Types of meters

1. Standard meters track information from an external utility vendor using imported bill data or manually entered data.
    
2. Chargeback meters track use and cost information generated within the system.
        
3. Linked meters (linked to SmartAnalytics or CarbonHub)
4. Hidden meters (Utility Platform subscription) 
5. Aggregate meters (Utility Platform subscription)

Why attach a meter to a building and not an organization?

How to name a meter

The meter name is a common label for the meter and isn't required to be unique (like the code) but it may be confusing in reporting if it is a duplicate.

If your organization doesn't have a naming standard or you are unsure what meter name to create, the best practice is to use the building name - commodity-increment. For example, Building Name - ELE01, Building Name - ELE02, and Building Name - ELE03.

The meter code is a unique identifier and typically does not change. The code must be unique. If your organization already has a method for building codes or meter codes, use these same codes in UtilityManagement.

If you are unsure what meter code to create, the best practice is to use BuildingCode-Commodity-Increment, for example, BLDG123-ELE01, BLDG123-ELE02, and BLDG123-ELE03.

Create a meter

A meter can be:

• Created with the Create button or with a create spreadsheet.
• Edited with the Actions menu or an update spreadsheet.

Steps to create a meter and link it to an account

You must link a meter to an account to enter or import bills.

1. Click the Create button.
2. Choose Add Meter from the Actions menu. It may be easier to create the building first, otherwise you need to place the meter in a temporary location and then edit it later.
   1. Choose the building and from the Actions menu choose Add New Meter.
      
       
   2. This populates the parent for you.
      
       
3. On the Add New Meter dialog, complete the required fields.
   1. Parent. The building where the meter is located. *The best practice is to attach a meter to a building. 
   2. Choose the commodity and the use unit is automatically populated with the commodity's common use unit. Change the use unit to match the use unit found on your utility bill. Some commodities also have an optional demand unit.
      
   3. If needed you can add a new commodity and assign an icon and color. You can also request a new icon. 
   4. Enter a name and code for your meter. Your organization may have a naming standard or you can use the naming convention mentioned above.
      
       
4. If you know the primary use of the meter choose it from the menu. Primary use lets you group meters of the same type for reports and benchmarks.
   
    
5. If your meter is located at the same address as the building leave the check mark for Use parent address. 
    
6. The meter serial number might be included on the bill and is another way of identifying a meter when importing bills.
   
    
7. The meter time zone is populated from the System Settings menu (Gear icon). You can update the individual meter. The timezone is important when you are importing interval data.
   
    
8. Save.
    
9.  The next step is to Add a Linked Account. The yellow box indicates an account is missing from this meter.
   
    
10. On the Add New Linked Account dialog, add the required information.
    1. Vendor Role.
    2. Vendor.
    3. Account. (If this requires a new account choose Add New...  from the account drop-down.) For an existing account, search and choose it from the drop-down.
    4. Rate Schedule.
        
11. Save.
     
12. You can also configure custom fields, channels, or groups or these items can be configured later.
     
13. Done.

Request additional icons

1. Review the icons in Font Awesome.
2. Select a version 6 icon.
3. Fill out a support ticket, requesting the new icon and include an image or link to the icon.

Meter reports

Download configured meter reports without leaving the Buildings and Meters module. The filters used to create the report are listed on the last page of the report. If you want to build your own report you can use these as a starting point in the Reports module.

Electric consumption and demand charges

Two of the biggest charges on most commercial electric utility bills are consumption (measured in kWh) and demand (measured in kW).

• Consumption is how much electricity your organization uses for a billing period.
• Demand is how much electricity your organization requires at a single moment in time or how fast energy is being consumed.

Energy consumption 

Energy consumption is easy to understand and calculate.

For example, if you building used 10,000 kWh during the billing period and your rate was $0.10/kWh then your consumption charge would be 10,000 kWh * $0.10/kWh = $1,000.

You can reduce the amount of energy you consume by making sure your HVAC is carefully controlled, so you aren't over air conditioning spaces or unoccupied buildings.

Energy demand

Because electricity cannot be stored in large quantities, the electric company needs to have the capacity at all times to meet the demand of customers at any given moment.

The unit cost of demand (kW) is always much higher the than the unit cost of consumption (kWh)

Types of demand

Your utility bill may have two different types of demand: actual demand and billed demand.

Actual demand is just what is sounds like. It's the highest actual average 15- or 30- minute (varies by vendor and rate schedule) demand measured during the current billing period. The billed demand is the highest 15- or 30-minute demand that you are billed for. It's not uncommon for billed demand to exceed actual demand because of the "fine print" terms of the rate schedule.

Bills that show both actual demand and billed demand probably have a rate schedule term called a “demand ratchet.” This means that if your demand for electricity is much higher during one particular month—for instance, during August—then the highest average 15-minute demand for that month will be billed for August and used as the Billed Demand basis for the next 11 months, even if the actual demand is lower during subsequent months.

The only exception to this rule would be if your actual demand was greater than the August demand in a subsequent month. In that case, the demand that would be billed would increase to that higher number and be used as the basis for the billing demand for the following 11 months.

When your rate includes a demand ratchet you will be locked into your highest demand for 12 months (or whatever term your vendor’s rate schedule outlines).

This demand “penalty” for a single instance of peak energy use can often be reduced through load reallocation, retrofits, and other energy management practices.