Sub-metering is a utility system that lets a landlord or building owner break down utility use based on individual unit consumption. Utility sub-metering is a system that allows a landlord, property management firm, condominium association, homeowners association, or other multi-tenant property to bill tenants for individual measured utility usage. These systems typically cover water use, electricity, or gas consumption. That use may be broken down by individual unit, or even by heavy use items such as HVAC equipment. The approach makes use of individual water meters, gas meters, or electricity meters. Sub-metering can be installed for all kinds of utilities, ranging from water submetering to gas and electricity. Utility submetering can also be the installation of an additional meter on the customer side of a utility meter to obtain data about a specific end-use or uses inside a facility.
Utility submetering is the implementation of meter systems that allows the operator of a multi-unit property to bill each unit for individual utility usage through the installation of additional meters behind a utility meter.
This ‘user pay’ system helps you understand how behavior drives energy costs and motivates change in behavior, often resulting in less energy consumed. Although sub-metering is now nationally recognized as a superior means of measuring energy consumption in a multi-use facility, some multi-unit properties still have a single meter or “master meter” that has been installed by the utility company. Utility costs are one of the highest expenditures for a building. By sub-metering, building owners and operators are able to better control operational costs, allowing them to focus on other priorities. Submetering differs from master-metering, where a landlord purchases energy at a commercial customer rate and then sub-meters electricity to tenants at a residential or smaller commercial rate. It can be installed in any building including shopping malls, hospitals, multi-tenant mixed-use properties, office towers, institutional, multi-family, and schools.
Sub-metering may also refer to the monitoring of the electrical consumption of individual equipment within a building, such as HVAC, indoor and outdoor lighting, refrigeration, kitchen equipment, and more. It is a method that involves having individual electricity meters, water meters, and gas meters. Utility submetering is the implementation of meter systems that allows the operator of a multi-unit property to bill each unit for individual utility usage through the installation of additional meters behind a utility meter. In addition to the “main load” meter used by utilities to determine overall building consumption, submetering utilizes individual “submeters” that allow building and facility managers to have visibility into the energy use and performance of their equipment, creating opportunities for energy and capital expenditure savings. A smart utility meter enables the utility provider to access the unit’s data of the energy consumed remotely.
