Meter Education
Learn the many aspects of metering technologies and how they might affect your business's operations and sustainability initiatives. Our educational materials cover everything from automatic meter reading solutions to the principles of submetering, in order to give you the knowledge you need to make educated decisions. If you have any questions feel free to get in touch with us.
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Submetering Benefits
The advantages of submetering for small property investors are reduced utility costs
Submetering enables property owners to accurately measure and allocate utility costs to individual tenants, which can lead to reduced overall utility expenses.
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Submetering can help property owners increase their cash flow by recovering utility expenses from tenants.
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By reducing utility expenses and increasing cash flow, submetering can improve cap rates and increase property values.
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Submetering allows property owners to pass on utility expenses to tenants, which can insulate them from rising energy prices.
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Submetering incentivizes tenants to conserve energy by making them directly responsible for their own usage and billing.
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Submetering can make rents more affordable by reducing overall utility expenses and providing tenants with incentives to conserve energy.
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Submetering can detect leaks or other water usage anomalies, enabling property owners to address them quickly and avoid costly damage.
Submetering Basics
Submetering is the installation of meters down from the main utility meter(s). This allows for capturing more detailed data regarding the consumption of various components behind the primary meters coming into the site.
One purpose for submetering is to Service individual tenants, residents or owners for their individual consumption of energy or water, when the utility company hasn’t already metered these points individually. By adding a utility cost recovery program and billing back utilities, there is a direct impact to NOI which typically also leads to an increase in property value.
There are a variety of reasons sites are turning to submetering. Some other common uses for submetering are:
Capture complete consumption data for rebate programs
Analyze granular data of site consumption to identify potential optimization opportunities
Provide leak detection to safeguard your site
Compare energy and water use from site to site
Today, submetering has become commonplace in the U.S., as more and more focus is being placed on conserving our natural resources.
How it Works
Each individual meter is equipped with a Radio Frequency (RF) component to communicate the reading and meter information back to a central data collection point. This eliminates the need for entry into units to collect readings and costly monthly fees for manual meter readings. In addition, we are able to receive daily readings for more complete data (we can also drill down into interval data for individual meters if needed for analysis).
The RF communications are simple to install and maintain. The transceivers operate with a 3v lithium battery which is easy to replace every 5-7 years. The system requires a main data collector (Gateway) which can communicate using existing internet service at the site (Ethernet or wifi), or cellular communications. Each site will require repeaters to help boost the signals from the transceivers back to the data collector (typically about one repeater for every 35 meter/transceivers). The Gateway and Repeaters are both powered by basic 110v power for simple installation.
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New project being built, where submeters are called out in the planning phase. This is by far the best situation to install submeters, because the meter locations and RF network can be drawn into the plans. Some advantages of installing submeters during construction are:
Installation is more cost-effective as needed contractors are already onsite. Installation can be performed under existing building permits
Radio Frequency networks can be drawn into existing plans, making installation simple
Meter locations can be drawn into existing plans, eliminating messy retrofit workarounds later
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In a retrofit situation, the property is already constructed and the decision has been made to submeter the individual units. In many situations, this can be a simple installation. However, there are times in which retrofit installations can become cost prohibitive and an alternate bill-back program may be the correct solution. In any case, there are more variables to consider in these situations than with new construction, so care needs to be taken in the planning phase.
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This term refers to the situation in which your site already has meters in place, but the system is not performing at acceptable levels. Some reasons a site might need to upgrade the existing submetering system could be:
Losing revenue due to the inaccuracy of older meters
Too many estimated meters each month due to failing meters
The manufacturer eliminates older parts or support for older systems or the property wants to convert from manually read meters to automated wirelessly read meters
When you start researching submetering, you will be inundated with technical jargon, countless options on meter technology, and even more options for reading the water meters. We are here to try to help sort through some of these complications and offer our clients quality product options at the best price available.
Does Submetering Save Resources & Money?
Submetering typically saves 15-40% of the utility. Integrity Meter Solutions has done case studies to measure utility savings in both condominium and apartment communities.
In this example, the apartment community’s water was slowly Submetered as residents renewed their leases or new residents moved in. The data outlined is when approx 50% of residents were being submetered.
Without Submetering
With Submetering
Unit Count
169
168
Total Consumption
987,900 Gal
649,800 Gal
Average Consumption
5,846 Gal
3,868 Gal
Average Bill
$84.72
$54.22
Submetering residents resulted in:
36% water savings
2,000 gallons water savings per unit
About $30 per month lower water bill per unit
Automatic Meter Reading Solutions
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) refers to the ability to remotely read meters without the need to physically collect readings/data from the meters themselves. This saves money and time and makes it possible to install meters in convenient locations without the need for intrusive access into units.
When deciding on the right AMR solution, it is most important to consider whether or not additional metering is needed on your site and what types of meters are needed to meet your needs. We see different AMR solutions installed at sites because metering decisions were made in phases or by different groups without considering the issues of having multiple systems installed.
Having multiple AMR solutions installed on a property can create problems and supportability issues down the road. Here are a few issues of having multiple AMR solutions on the same site:
• Maintenance Costs - Different systems require different technical training, software, tools and support, which can drive up the cost of installation and service. Having one AMR solution installed on all meters makes for a better maintenance plan.
• Infrastructure Costs - While the cost for supporting one AMR network (Cellular or Ethernet charges along with 110v outlets for the RF network), can be minimal, by adding multiple systems you can quickly drive up the upfront and regular costs of having these systems in place.
At Integrity Meter Solutions, our objective is to offer a great solution that works with various meter types under one AMR network. The Next Century AMR solution accomplishes this, as well as offering installation/service tools and outstanding analytics.
Next Century AMR Solutions
The Next Century product is a Radio Frequency (RF) solution which works with a wide range of water, gas, electric and BTU meters on the market. The system works with non-proprietary software, meaning anyone can work with the system without the need of expensive software, tools or long term contracts.
How it Works - Hardware
The RF network consists of a Gateway, which serves as the central data collection point, and Repeaters, which are installed throughout the site to help support the transmission of readings back to the Gateway.
The Gateway is installed in a secure area using either Ethernet, wifi or built-in Cellular (cellular charges apply) options and 110v power.
Repeaters are installed throughout the site using standard 110v power.
A transmitter is installed on each meter to transmit data from the meter back to the Gateway via the wireless network.
Utilize smartphone app to scan devices for simple programming and service.
The Gateway, Repeater and Transceivers all work to transmit the reading back to the Gateway for data collection purposes.
How it Works - Software
The Next Century web-based software solution is the best in functionality and usability. Access data, schedule reports and troubleshoot all from one portal without the need for software licences - all you need is web access.
Access Web Portal
Set up Notifications (leak detection, freeze detection, low battery, power loss, etc)
Schedule Automated Reports
Customize and store custom Report Templates
By utilizing the Next Century solution, Integrity Meter Solutions is able to install a wide variety of meter types under one network, eliminating issues and making service and support simple.