INFOGRAPHIC: Electricity Sub-Metering for Landlords
Electric meters for landlords and multi-site businesses
What landlords need to know about electricity sub-metering on their premises.
To meet your compliance needs, sub-metering solutions simplify your tenant arrangements and, according to Carbon Trust, is the best technology investment a business can make. A fully-fledged gas and energy service for office park owners and landlords of multi-tenant premises would be incomplete without sub-metering. To re-bill accurately and assess where energy and gas is being used in your building, sub-metering has now become a mandatory tool for landlords.
What is a sub-meter system?
Sub-metering can be installed to monitor each tenant’s individual electricity consumption; the installation of metering solutions that work ‘under’ the primary gas/electricity meter.
Tenant meters can be installed in multi-occupancy buildings and multi-let offices so that landlords can accurately claim utility costs for:
- An independent site
- A retail unit
- An entire floor of a building
- Part of a floor within a commercial building
Why install sub-meters?
When operating a large facility through one meter, it’s difficult to monitor energy usage accurately and effectively. Without knowing what is using energy and how much is being used, it’s unlikely that you can implement effective measures to use energy more efficiently. When you install a sub-meter, you’ll be able to isolate your building’s energy use into different sections and gain a better understanding of your overall energy consumption.
Having individual electricity consumption data ensures that individual tenants only pay for the electricity that they use, rather than paying costs split from the main meter of the property.
Aside from being a fairer way of charging tenants for their energy, using sub-meters also gives landlords a better idea of the ways in which energy is being used at the property. For example, what is causing a spike in electricity consumption in one section vs another?
The benefits of sub-metering
For organisations with high energy consumption, sub-metering helps identify areas of inefficiency to enable end-users to take action that can save a further 30% on their bills. Sub-metering can also be used to educate staff and create behavioural changes that will enhance your business’ Corporate Social Responsibility profile.
- Provide your tenants with accurate bills
- Meet regulatory obligations such as ESOS
- Get a better understanding of how your property is using energy
- Identify unusual spikes in demand
- Clearly see the impact of operational changes and energy-saving measures
Did you know?
Actively targeting and monitoring your energy use with technology like sub-meters can help you reduce energy use by up to 16%.
MID Approval
Any meter used for billing purposes must be of an approved pattern or type. It’s important to use Ofgem\MID approved meters.
- Compliant with current legislation
- Governed by the 1989 Electricity Act
- Only meters that meet the Ofgem\MID standards can be used
Tenant rights
The tenant has a right to read his/her meter.
Your sub-metering checklist
- Use Ofgem\MID approved meters.
- Read and inspect your meters every two years (at least) to take a reading
- Inspect all meters at least every two years to check they that are in good working order.
- Adhere to the RICS code of practice when recharging tenants for energy.
- Installation of sub-metering should be done by qualified electricians.
Providing affordable, effective sub-metering, Smarter Business takes the guesswork out of your rental invoicing. We’ll help you operate with optimal efficiency and professionalism, encourage energy saving and avoid penalties.
What is sub-metering used for?
Some of the more common applications of sub-metering technology include:
- Landlords monitoring energy usage for individual tenants
- Businesses monitoring the energy use of different departments
- Measuring the energy usage of particular pieces of equipment
- Basically, any situation in which one needs to account for individual energy consumption under the same primary meter.
A cost-effective solution for your rental invoicing
Providing affordable, effective sub-metering, Smarter Business takes the guesswork out of your rental invoicing and offers compliant solutions to fairly allocate utility costs to each tenant. Not only does this help you operate with optimal efficiency and professionalism, but it provides an opportunity to encourage energy-saving and avoid penalties. Smart business is made easy through sub-metering. Contact Smarter Business today to find out more about this simple and effective technology.
Smart sub-metering with Smarter Business
The art of effective sub-metering is to assess the building type and gain an understanding of the business operations and functions. We aim to design and install a sub-metering solution that is right for your business, considering the cost vs benefits.
- Sub-metering provides granular data on key activity areas within your business and across your sites.
- We can provide a mix of hardware and cloud-based software that delivers a market-leading sub-metering service.
- You can access data in real-time in standard 30-minute intervals, right down to 1-minute intervals depending on requirement.
- Data is viewed through our online software – Dataview – dashboards and apps.
- You can then map, graph and profile sub-metering data and control strategies to truly identify opportunities for energy savings.
- We connect to systems and equipment through a variety of meter types; we pick the right meter for the job. Data is sent periodically off-site to central servers, allowing unlimited user access through the online software suite.
- Many meters from multiple sites can be viewed and analysed through a single cloud-based software platform.
Take the hassle out of new meter installations by using Smarter Business’ energy metering solutions.
We can install meters and sub-meters throughout your commercial buildings to monitor the energy consumption of particular areas.
Smarter Business can help your business determine a suitable sub-metering strategy to meet your current and future needs. We can also help you use this data to build an in-depth understanding of your facility’s energy use so that you can identify potential energy efficiencies.