Do electricity meters measure enough?

Industries and professions across the country are firmly focused on reducing electricity usage, especially with the “cap & trade” CRC scheme which comes into effect in April 2010, but how can you meaningfully measure consumption?

It is safe to assume all buildings will have an electricity meter but what information can it provide? Simply, the information is basic providing just a measurement of units consumed. These days measuring usage is not enough as it is essential for companies to analyse their consumption “profile”. That is to say it is important to understand how the electricity is used and by what equipment. Once you understand this aspect you can then look at:

• Energy wastage – When all usage has ceased is there any equipment which is still on that may consume electricity but which is not required?
• High consumption data – When and what causes it? Is it necessary?
• Weather patterns – How do they influence usage?
• Benchmarking – Monitor regular usage and maintain a steady usage.

Larger users (where peak demand of electricity is above 100kW) will already have half hourly meters and the supplier company will be able to record usage every 30 minutes. However this data doesn't have any details attached to it so you can not record the consumption of individual items of equipment.  As a result more meters will need to be installed to measure the consumption of individual pieces of equipment such as pumps, chillers, lighting circuits and so on.  This will aide transparency of usage. The new “smart” meters will give more information to allow proper strategies to be adopted to reduce unnecessary energy consumption, and landlords are now moving towards installing this equipment. Hopefully savings will come from better use of this expensive commodity.