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Benefits of Metering Energy Usage A majority of the buildings constructed during the last century now need massive energy overhauls. During the building boom, energy efficiency was hardly foremost in builder’s minds. Today facilities experiencing budget cuts need to think more and more about the bottom line. Meters are playing a bigger role in energy management because utilities do not pay for electricity at a fixed rate. Common electricity meters read how much energy is used during a billing cycle. The utility provider multiplies the energy used with a fixed cost to calculate the bill. Detailing energy use through metering can be more sophisticated than just reading a display to calculate how much energy is used. Meters can be used to reduce energy expenses, shift loads to a different time, switch fuels used, or to compile data to help negotiate better energy rates. A utility provider buys and sells energy under real-time pricing, which means the cost of the commodity is constantly changing. Energy is more expensive during times of heavy demand and less expensive when demand is at a low. Through metering a facility can determine when they are using energy, how expensive it is, and how they can curtail energy use to purchase less expensive energy. Through better management of energy consumption, such as metering, a facility can reduce energy use during high demand and use it during off-peak hours. Metering can also help determine whether a facility is using an average amount of energy. Instead of shifting energy load to off-peak hours, meters can be used to change how energy is used. Knowing when energy is more expensive can trigger a meter to send a signal that turns down air conditions. It can also switch energy-intensive operations, such as chillers, to a less expensive fuel. Ideally, metering data should be gathered for three years, this provides a better overall average, allowing for unusual peaks that occur due to extreme weather conditions. The longer a facility is metered, the more accurate picture they’ll get of how the facility consumes energy. If greater use is occurring during hours of peak demand, a facility might consider the operation’s potential of shifting part, or the entire load to hours of less demand. Meters capable of providing this useful information to end-users are high tech systems. Many utility providers are using radio-based meters and some systems allow access to metered data through the Internet or an in-house computer network. A good metering system has accuracy and flexibility. It is adapted to meter energy at different times, or energy used at any point in time. It also has a good communication system and a better display system for the end-user. Metering energy is a positive benefit to a facilities bottom line energy cost. As energy prices rise dramatically metering will help to turn information into knowledge and help facilities run more efficiently by reducing energy usage and associated costs. |