04 - Meter Editor Manual Entry

Use the meter editor to enter information about each meter and the collection of meter readings, which are typically utility bills but may also come from interval and submeters via various systems.

General

Meter Name	Name that will help identify this meter in a list of meters on the site.
Utility Company	Select the utility that services this meter and sends invoices. Depending on the meter type, there are also additional options of 'Owner', ‘Sub-meter’ and/or interval data vendors. Please contact us to add additional utility companies.
Comments	Any relevant notes or comments about this meter. Common themes include meter entry process, contacts for meter entry, and/or explanations for irregular meter readings. You may also enter historical meter numbers, account numbers or premise numbers. Historical entries are searchable in the Meter Search tool.
Account Number	Customer account number at utility.
Meter Number	Meter number or ID as assigned by utility. Note "Allocated" in place of meter number for any auto-allocated submeter setups.
Premise Number / Tank Number	If applicable, Premise Number or property ID as assigned by the utility. Not all utilities utilize this unique identifier which stays constant for each service location regardless of account and meter numbers. For propane, fuel oil and ethanol, a Tank Number field is available.
Date Connected	This field informs the application that this meter should be ignored prior to this date when meter went into service. In most cases, this field can be left blank unless the meter was connected after other meters within this site.
Date Disconnected	This field informs the application that this meter should be ignored after this date as it's no longer in service. A date should only be entered if the meter has been disconnected.

 

Connections

The parent organization and parent site to which the meter is assigned are listed here. Meters can be moved to other organizations and/or sites without loss of data. The building(s) that the meter services are also specified here. This ensures that usage data is reported for respective buildings. If the meter doesn’t service a building, that too can be designated by the checkbox.

Submeter

If a meter is sub-metering usage from a master meter, it is specified on this tab. Any meter within an organization of the same fuel source can be a master meter. Sub-meter data will not be added to the master meter’s usage to avoid double counting. Auto-allocation: Additionally, sub-meters can be setup with an auto-allocated percentage from the master meter. At Save & Close the meter readings will automatically be created with those percentages. NOTE: If auto-allocation is turned off, for historical purposes, make note in Comments area the timeframe the allocated readings covered.

If the meter serves as a master meter to other meters, they will be listed here. ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tracks sub-meters that service data centers so select if applicable. End use(s) the sub-meter services can also be specified.

If the site has subscribed to community solar garden, the community solar meter can be tied to the master utility meter to allow the respective utility credits to be entered. This allows the site to track additional costs or savings from the subscription and ensures that usage, costs and credits are not double counted.

Interval

Interval meter readings may be entered via webservices with key vendors or via the Import Wizard. Once the interval meter is created, an import template can be generated allowing the copying/pasting of interval data. Similar to monthly utility data, only existing usage and charge values may be modified and not reading dates/timestamps. Interval readings cannot not be deleted so ensure they are imported into the correct meter. Should an error occur, the meter can be deleted and a new one created.

Interval meters have the ability to specify the frequency of expected readings. This selection feeds the completeness calculation to inform the application if enough readings have been provided. For example, when a frequency of hourly is selected, the application will expect 24 readings within a day’s timeframe. As such, a 15-minute interval meter would expect 96 readings.

Some interval meters are cumulative in that the reported readings cumulate from the last reading. If this is the case for your interval meter, check the box so the application accurately calculates the usage for the given time period.

Options

Different utilities report usage in different units of measure. The appropriate unit of usage for the readings should have been selected when the meter was created but can be modified if incorrect. Note: if usage reporting is changed for an active meter, that meter will need to be disconnected and a new one created with the new units specified. This ensures that historical readings are kept tied to the correct units as it applies globally to all readings within the meter.

Additional meter reading details can be tracked by turning them on here. These include demand and delivery related fields for energy and sewer and storm for water.

For renewable meters, in addition to the optional columns above there is a unique set of optional fields.

• PV Generated: if the renewable was generated onsite at the buildings location or at another site.
• REC Ownership: ownership impacts the CO2e calculations.
• Renewables checkbox: this checkbox allows a renewable meter to track any excess energy that was exported back to the grid to allow reporting of total renewable production. It is displayed for onsite generated renewables only.
• Subscription checkbox: this checkbox allows the tracking of cost adjustments related to the renewable energy. Some organizations pay a premium to receive renewable energy and thus would enter a positive value. Others receive a credit from their utility for subscribing to a renewable program and thus would enter a negative value.

Within each meter, you can select to ignore gap/overlap warning prior to a specific date. This allows to clear historical warnings while still being alerted to more recent ones.

Meter Readings

Click the "Add a New Reading" button in the lower left corner to add additional meter readings. Monthly readings are not required, especially with delivered fuels when potentially no usage was used, or a tank lasted all season, thus readings can span months or years. If no usage was used, readings with zero usage should be entered to avoid gaps in reporting. The import wizard can also be used to populate the readings table.

Start Date	Enter start of the reading/usage period as listed on utility bill. Do not use billing or due dates. This should be the same as the previous readings end date or date connected that was entered above.
End Date	Enter end of the reading/usage period as listed on utility bill.
Usage	Enter usage in the appropriate unit as specified in Units dropdown above.
Exported Offsite	If applicable when “Renewables” columns are included, enter any energy produced onsite that was exported back to the grid.
Total Production	If applicable when “Renewables” columns are included, this field will calculate the total energy produced adding together the Usage and Exported Offsite columns.
Peak Demand	If applicable when "Peak Demand" columns are included, enter actual demand from utility bill. Make sure to use actual and not billable demand.
Demand Charge	If applicable when "Peak Demand" columns are included, enter charge for the demand energy. These charges should be also be included in any Usage, Delivery or Total Charges as they are not added separately to the Total Charges.
Usage Charge	If applicable when "Delivery Charges” columns are included, enter usage related charges from utility bill. Also sometimes referred to as Supply Charges.
Delivery Charge	If applicable when "Delivery Charges” columns are included, enter delivery related charges from utility bill. Also sometimes referred to as Transport Charges.
Vendor Charge	If applicable when “Subscription” columns are included, enter the charge from the 3rd party vendor.
Subscription Adjustment	If applicable when “Subscription” columns are included, enter the credit or charge from the utility for the energy received from the subscription. Credit is entered as a negative number.
Total Charge $	Enter total charges from utility bill including all charges, taxes, fees, riders, etc. Note: when “Delivery Charges” and “Subscription Adjustment” columns are included, this column will be calculated.
$ per Unit	Calculated value to assist in validating data accuracy. $/unit should be generally consistent for each reading. If a meter reading's $/unit is not consistent, confirm accuracy with utility bill.
Usage bar graph	Visual representation of reading usage assists in validating data accuracy. If data does not fall as expected, confirm meter reading entry with utility bill.
Estimated Reading	Check here if this reading is an estimated reading as noted on your utility billing statement.

 

Delivery Fuels (Propane, Fuel Oil, Ethanol and Wood)

For delivery meters, there are a couple of options to track usage.

• Measure or 'stick' the tank regularly and enter in the actual usage.
• Enter a reading to cover time period fuel is typically used. For example, fuel oil is used as supplemental heat. The reading start date would be the day the fuel oil was delivered with the usage being the amount delivered. The end date for that reading would be the next delivery date or the end of the heating season. A reading with zero usage would be entered for the non-heating months to ensure there are no gaps in the meter readings. End dates can be up to one year in the future. Please contact us with questions or assistance on entering delivery fuels.

Renewable Electric Meters

There are various programs allowing organizations to benefit from solar energy. If you’re participating or plan to participate, below are some examples on how to enter renewable energy into B3 Benchmarking. We understand each situation may be unique so please contact B3 Support or your program administor if you need assistance.

• Owned onsite renewables
  

  PV panels and/or wind turbines onsite that are owned and operated by the organization. This energy often supplements grid purchased energy though sometimes may produce excess energy that is exported back to the grid. In the renewable meter options, the Generated dropdown would be “Onsite” and the REC Ownership is defaulted to “Owned”. Note, some organizations may choose to sell their onsite renewable RECs and thus this option should be changed to “Sold” to accurately reflect the CO2e factors. The “Renewables” columns should be included to allow tracking of both the energy used onsite and any exported energy. The Total Production column will be calcualted and should match the renewables production meter. The renewable meter utility would be designated as “Owner”. If the renewable is sized small enough that excess will never be generated, the "Renewables" columns do not need to be included.

  Within Benchmarking, there will be two meters...one onsite renewable and one electric utility. In the renewable meter, energy produced and consumed by the site should be entered in the "Usage” column and any excess energy that was exported back to the grid should be entered in the “Exported Offsite” column. The electric utility meter will track any remaining usage billed by the utility.

• Community Solar Garden
  

  Grid-connected users that purchase a subscription to a centrally located PV array or wind farm and receive bill credit as if renewables were onsite. Subscriptions may be a one-time fee or ongoing as part of the bill. Subscriptions may be a percentage of energy use or set amount of energy. Subscriptions may be associated to multiple utility meters and thus the same subscription number appears multiple times within a utility bill each having a different usage value. Having a unique name for each of the individual subscription meters under each different site will allow ease of reporting and exporting of data. Also, there may be multiple subscriptions associated with a utility meter so multiple subscription meters may be entered for each site. In the renewable meter options, the Generated dropdown would be “Offsite” and the REC Ownership is defaulted to “Owned”. Note, some organizations may choose not to buy the RECs associated with their subscription and thus this option should be changed to “Sold” to accurately reflect the CO2e factors. The “Subscription" column should be included to allow tracking of both the vendor charges and utility credits or premiums. Credits should be entered as a negative number. These subscription renewable meters should also be flagged as submeters to the electric utility meter they are associated with to accurately reflect the offset of reported grid energy with purchased offsite solar. The subscription meter utility company would be the garden vendor. If you don’t see the vendor listed, you can select “(Unknown)” or contact Support to have us add them.

  Within Benchmarking, there will be (at least) two meters… one (or more) offsite renewable and one electric utility. In the renewable meter(s), enter the usage equal to the subscription allocated to that meter. This should be listed separately on the utility bill or from the garden vendor. Enter the charge from the solar vendor in the “Vendor Charge” column and the corresponding credit from the utility in the “Subscription Adjustment" column. The total charges column will calculate these two and may end up as a negative number. The billed usage from the utility should be entered into the utility electric meter, this may be more or less than the subscribed to usage depending on the arrangement. By marking the subscription meters as submeters to the utility meter, the solar usage, charges or credits associated with the subscription meter will accurately offset what was entered in the utility meter when viewing the graphs and reports.

• Solar Power Purchase Agreement
  

  Organization allows vendor to install an array or turbine on their site with no/low upfront costs. The organization agrees to purchase the electricity generated at a reduced rate for a contract period. This energy often supplements grid purchased energy. In Solar PPAs, the vendor keeps the RECs, which may be turned over to the organization at the end of the contract term. In the renewable meter options, the Generated dropdown would be “Onsite” and the REC Ownership would be “Sold”. No additional columns need to be included as only electricity used is purchased and the vendor would receive the benefit of any electricity exported back to the grid. The PPA meter utility company would be the solar vendor. If you don’t see the vendor listed, you can select “(Unknown)” or contact Support to have us add them.

  Within Benchmarking, there will be two meters… one onsite renewable and one utility electric. Organization will receive two monthly usage bills. The vendor will bill for solar energy which is entered in the renewable meter. The utility will bill for the grid-purchased energy which is entered into the utility electric meter.

• Purchased Green Power
  

  Organization pays a premium to utility for renewable energy, whether that’s solar, wind, hydro or bio-gas. Green power is often purchased in blocks or a percentage of energy use. It is important to understand if the green power program includes the RECs. If the program does NOT include the RECs, the renewable meter options would be "Offsite" Generated and the REC Ownership would be “Sold”. No carbon benefit will be calculated for the site when RECs are sold. If the program does include the RECs, the renewable meter options would be "Offsite" generated and the REC Ownership would be “Owned”. If 100% green power is purchased, then only the one renewable meter is needed. The charges from the utility for access to the grid, can be tracked in the Delivery Charge column. If blocks or a portion of energy use is purchased, then the renewable meter would be set as a submeter to the electric utility meter to accurately reflect the offset of reported grid energy with purchased offsite green power. The renewable meter utility company would be the Utility’s green power program (e.g. Xcel Energy Windsource). If you don’t see the utility’s program listed, you can select “(Unknown)” or contact Support to have us add it.

  Within Benchmarking, there may be one or two electric meters… one renewable and one utility electric. In the renewable meter, enter usage equal to the subscription blocks or percentage and additional premiums. This should be listed separately on the utility bill. Since the renewable meter is set up as a submeter, the total usage meter usage from the bill should be entered into the utility electric meter. The green power premium should be subtracted from the total utility charge and entered as a subscription adjustment to facilitate reporting the premium the green power is costing the organization.

Warnings and Errors

Throughout the application, colored triangles may be displayed. These indicate warnings (yellow) and errors (red) with the data or situations where the metric is not applicable or available (gray). Hovering over the triangle will display a message indicating the issue. Resolving warnings and errors typically requires updates to either the Building Editor or Meter Editor.