Specifying the right submeter
Not all submeters are created equal. It is important to understand the building’s end-use and how submetering can help the building owner monitor usage and manage effectively. Working with the building owner, construction specifiers should provide submetering options for them to consider depending on the application.
Determining the right measurement
A building must determine the right measurement to employ for a building’s needs. Different forms of submetering consider different factors.
Base energy management
Base energy management submetering provides facility managers with a summary of energy profiles to help identify high and low consumption as well as energy usage patterns for user defined intervals. These types of meters can populate reports based on user configured preferences and assist end users in meeting the growing requirements of local and national energy codes.
Energy management with advanced reporting
Energy management with advanced reporting submetering provides the facility manager with the addition of enhanced reporting and dashboarding features such as daily and hourly heat maps, drift analysis reporting, and other custom report options to support detailed energy usage and demand analysis.
Tenant billing
Tenant billing submetering enables facility managers to monitor individual dwelling or office units to create invoices and tenant billing reports. Some systems support an online portal for tenants to log in and monitor their usage and billing information.
Types of submeters
After determining the type of energy information required for efficient building operations, one should consider which type of submeter is the best fit for the application.
Pulse meters
Pulse meters are simple meters often used for tenant billing.
Advanced meters
Advanced meters offer a broad range of metering parameters beyond energy usage and can be configured with software or a browser-based user interface.
Advanced multi-circuit meters
Advanced multi-circuit meters have all of the same attributes of advanced meters but are ideal for metering multiple loads from a common source on a single meter.
Current Transformers (CTs)
CTs are installed on the conductor for each circuit to be metered and include three different types: solid core, split core, and Rogowski coils.
